Blue Cheese Slaw — The Food That Connects Every Version of Me

Week 490. Summer 2025. I am 42 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like grilled food and garden herbs and this is my life. This is the life I built.

The clinic was busy this week — spring puppies and summer emergencies and the constant, comforting cycle of animals who need care and humans who love them enough to bring them in.

Mason is 14 and navigating middle school with the quiet competence that has always been his way — focused, kind, certain of who he is in a way that took me thirty years to achieve.

Lily is 12 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made gazpacho this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

Gazpacho was this week’s food — cool and herby and pulled straight from the garden — but the meal around it was grilled and sprawling, and this slaw was right there beside it, the way it always is in summer: no ceremony, no occasion, just the table set and the string lights on and the kids eating without looking up. That’s the food I want to write down. The steady kind. The kind that shows up every year without needing to explain itself.

Blue Cheese Slaw

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min (plus 30 min chilling) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 6 cups green cabbage, finely shredded (about 1/2 medium head)
• 1 cup purple cabbage, finely shredded
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Instructions

1. Prep the vegetables. Shred the green and purple cabbage and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the grated carrots and sliced green onions. Toss to combine.
2. Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, apple cider vinegar, sugar, celery seed, salt, and black pepper until smooth and well combined.
3. Combine. Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss thoroughly until every strand is coated. Fold in the blue cheese crumbles gently, taking care not to break them up too much.
4. Chill. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld and the cabbage to soften slightly.
5. Taste and adjust. Before serving, taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper, or a splash of vinegar if desired. Serve cold alongside grilled meats or as part of a summer spread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 8g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 370mg