Cool summer salads (vegan and gluten-free)

Napa Cabbage Salad and Shoepeg Corn Salad - both vegan and gluten-free

I met up with friend Andrew for a potluck picnic on the lawn while we watched the Béla Fleck concert at the NC Museum of Art last night. My contributions to the potluck were two cool summer salads: Napa Cabbage Salad and Shoepeg Corn Salad - delicious separately, but somehow they complement each other so well that they are even better when eaten together.

I got the basic recipe for Napa Cabbage Salad online (http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/napa-cabbage-salad) - the Napa cabbage courtesy of the Produce Box - and embellished it with shredded yellow squash, shredded carrots and diced cucumber. I also added the juice of 1 lime to the sauce. Other than that I followed the directions. It was delicious!

The Shoepeg Corn Salad comes courtesy of my friend Brandi - who got it from her mother-in-law. This salad is to die for and I didn't change a thing about the recipe! The only thing I changed in the recipe was that I cut the sugar in half - the canned shoepeg corn already had sugar in it, so I figured it would be fine to cut back on the sugar for the sauce. I also highly suggest nibbling on it to check the taste before the recommended "overnight" period is up, because it is irresistible! I doubled the recipe.

2 cans of shoepeg corn
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used sweet Vidalia onion)
3 stalks of celery (chopped)
2 oz. of pimento (drained)
Marninate overnight in:
1/4 cup vinegar (apple cider)
1/4 cup oil (I used canola)
1/2 cup sugar (I used half this amount)
1/2 teaspoon of salt (I used freshly ground sea salt)
1/4 teaspoon of pepper (I used freshly ground pepper)