considering the plight of many a college cafeteria, pepperdine’s culinary offerings to co-eds were certainly nothing to scoff at (and i’m told the caf has only improved since my departure now almost nine years later <– yikes!). but even if the college chef is a james beard award-winner (and if that’s the case, WHERE are you going to school?), nothing compares to a home cooked meal.

so whenever i battled the 10 to the 405 to the 5 on my way back home, i always had one specific meal request -turkey burgers, roasted red potatoes, and cabbage slaw. it was nothing fancy, but to me, it was the little piece of home i missed while away.

feeling just a little bit nostalgic (and very hungry) on monday evening after a mean tennis match, when S and i headed over to trader joe’s to pick up dinner fixings for the week, i offered to recreate my childhood treat for dinner. S agreed and along with a few other items, we picked up the necessary ingredients needed to pull the meal together -lean ground turkey, red potatoes, shredded cabbage, and perhaps the most important ingredient (all $.029 of it) –chicken-flavored top ramen.

since everyone has their own method of cooking turkey burgers and roasted potatoes involve little more than a sautee pan, olive oil, salt, and rosemary, i’ll simply focus on the piece de résistance of my favorite meal –the cabbage slaw. no joke, i could eat an entire batch of this myself in one sitting. there’s just something about the crunch of the cabbage, the texture of the uncooked ramen noodles, the sweet and salty quality of the homemade dressing that it gets coated with at the end that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. and the best part? it’s incredibly easy to make.

cabbage slaw

ingredients:
for slaw
1 pkg. trader joe’s shredded cabbage
1 pkg. chicken-flavored top ramen
3-4 green onions, chopped (optional)

for dressing
1 pkg. chicken flavoring (from ramen)
2 tsp. sugar
3 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. red wine vinegar

directions:
in a big bowl, combine slaw ingredients -breaking the uncooked ramen wedge into bite-sized pieces and sprinkling them over the cabbage and chopped green onions. in a separate smaller bowl, whisk together dressing components until everything is well blended. pour dressing over slaw and mix gently to coat evenly. let the salad sit in the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes so the flavors have time to marry.

then serve alongside turkey burgers and roasted potatoes or as a main entree with some grilled chicken on top!

aside from fulfilling a craving for comfort food (my definition of comfort food at least), the meal was another opportunity to share a family tradition with S. considering the fact that we all but drank the dressing from the bottom of the bowl when scraping it down to get a second helping, i’d say this is one tradition he’s happy to be adopted into.