We Should Date. Or at least enjoy some delectable Sweet Pepper-Fennel-Date Slaw together.

"I'd pay good money for this at a restaurant," said my totally unbiased husband.

I blushed. And agreed.

Background info:

1. This statement was made on the second day we ate this slaw. On the first day, we ate it on braised carrot tacos. Does that sound good to you? Carrot tacos? It didn't sound good to me really, but we're doing some experimenting with our diet right now... vegetables vegetables vegetables blah blah blah vegetables... my children like carrots... we had carrots in the fridge... I find unqualified assertions like "our test kitchen staff loved this recipe!" unduly persuasive... and there you have it: we tried out some carrot tacos. Fairly labor-intensive carrot tacos, as it turns out. In the end they tasted like - wait for it - carrot tacos. MC took a bite and said, "these need steak." He was right.

2. I was exhausted and ill one evening recently and MC took over dinner duty, i.e. picked up some to-go items at a certain grocery store that you probably all shop at on occasion so I'm not going to bash it by name. Because of our various allergies and aversions, our options were limited. We ended up with some salmon steaks, a quinoa salad, some glazed butternut squash, and green beans. The green beans were actually good, but the others were mediocre or worse. The quinoa salad was dry and overzealously seasoned with cumin (one of my favorite spices! maybe it wasn't fresh enough?). The butternut squash was raw. (No joke. Someone forgot to cook it.) And the salmon was bland, though not awful. After unenthusiastically consuming this dinner, MC turned his disappointment into a compliment: "It's probably just bad to us because you make such good food." I was flattered. And inspired. MC knows a lot about my big dreams and sometimes he says things to show that he values them and is ready to support me if and when the time comes to pursue them earnestly.

Someday, friends. Someday...

I'm not usually an ellipses person. And yet today I'm overusing them. I am hot or cold like that.

Anyway, I am fairly certain that if I ever do start a restaurant - or even if I just create recipes for a restaurant - this slaw will be in the mix. Carrot tacos will not be, however.

FYI: Probably any sweet-ish bell-ish pepper would work well here. I used these cute multi-colored baby ones for the following reason: I got them for free from Local D'Lish. (They aren't local. Local D'Lish sells a small amount of fresh, organic, non-local produce during the winter. It's distributed by a company called Co-op Partners.)

Sweet Pepper, Fennel, and Date Slaw

Yield: about 3 cups

Note: This slaw will be best if you put some effort into slicing your veggies as thinly as possible. Duh.

2 cups thinly sliced sweet peppers*

1/2 cup thinly sliced fennel

6 pitted dates, thinly sliced or chopped

Juice of a lime

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 bunch of cilantro, minced

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon salt

Toss everything together.

Serve as a condiment with some Latin food, or toss 1/2 cup slaw with 1 cup baby spinach or mixed greens and enjoy a super tasty salad. Add some sliced chicken or steak and a little feta? Even better!

* I trimmed my baby peppers, halved them lengthwise, and then thinly sliced them into half-circles.