Coming out of my shell for a wal-nutty surprise

Walnut-coated fried chicken.

Mac and cheese topped with walnuts.

Coleslaw studded with walnuts.

I like walnuts, but these recipes sound ... well ... weird.

So weird I had to try one.

A little background: The dishes come from a San Francisco public-relations firm that represents the California Walnut Board.

Seems the firm got renowned cookbook author Mollie Katzen to make over classic, high-calorie dishes using — can you guess? — walnuts.

The results are, I admit, a little kooky. Mac and cheese with walnuts?

But I love Katzen — her "Moosewood" cookbooks are among the most food-spattered in our kitchen. I couldn't imagine she could create anything bad.

So I gave the coleslaw a shot. And I'm glad I did.

Shopping was a breeze, and ingredients were relatively inexpensive — two big pluses in my book. Prep was a bit time-consuming, but you can buy pre-shredded cabbage to make your life easier.

When it came time to make the dressing, I couldn't bring myself to use low-fat mayonnaise, so I used the full-fat stuff. I also used low-fat yogurt, not nonfat as the recipe specified.

The dish was lovely — and surprising. The dressing was ultra-creamy. The pears added an unexpected sweetness. The walnuts gave a nutty flavor to the mix and added a satisfying crunch.

All this got me thinking ... maybe I will try the walnut mac and cheese after all.

I love the ratio of cabbage and carrots compared to pre-shredded bagged cabbage, which is mostly green cabbage. The cabbage stayed firm and crisp for days. The sauce was a little bland and thin. While we loved the addition of cranberries, nuts and fruit in the coleslaw (I also added chicken and feta cheese the next day), we'll be using our regular dressing.

This coleslaw recipe is easy and quite good. The pears, toasted walnuts and cranberries set it apart from your basic coleslaws. It packed nicely for a picnic.

This dish was tasty and colorful. The fruit added something different to the slaw.

This is one good variation of the infinite variety of coleslaw recipes. Whether anyone would make it more than once is questionable. Nothing about it shouts, "This is it." Even so, it is worth a try if you are looking for a variation. The dried cranberries are the most interesting part of the dish. They could easily become an essential coleslaw ingredient. The Bosc pears and walnuts, on the other hand, could just as easily be dismissed, for they do nothing for a coleslaw except to change its essential character. Whether you want to shred 2 pounds of cabbage, half red, half green, may be a deciding factor, and whether you really need red cabbage at all (which I doubt) may be another.