Tag Archives: cabbage

Aug9
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Do you love gifts? Who wouldn’t right?! Especially the unexpected ones. They are just a tad sweeter to receive as the person was clearly thinking of you and thought you were so awesome that you deserved a gift :) .

At the last girls-night-in dinner I hosted, my friend Anna showed up with a beautiful gift. No, not the flower gift.

But it was definitely purple. And beautiful.

Yep, a gorgeous purple cabbage, straight from her husband’s Michigan farm. Firm and fragrant, smelling of the earth and country rain, having traveled that far to adorn my kitchen and satisfy my palate.

Am I special or what?! :)

The cabbage may’ve looked like a “strange” gift, but not to me. Receiving something like a power tool or even garden gloves (as apparently my fingers are skilled at cooking but not growing or fixing anything else) would surely look strange and totally unuseful to me. But you can’t beat a precious gift of food or anything related to cooking. That’s where I come out to play.

And you just can’t have too many shovels and buckets when you get out to play in the sandbox.

 

 

 

What’s Cooking This Week

Beautiful purple cabbage of course. As the gift hand-off was accompanied by a “let’s see what you can do with it” remark. A challenge? :) Love that! My self-imposed challenge bonus was to only use ingredients already in the house, plus to keep it vegan. But if I wasn’t I’d totally mix in some bacon pieces with it. Yum, with or without!

Apple Ginger Cabbage Ragu

1/2 of medium cabbage head

1 onion

1 carrot

1 red pepper

4 medium potatoes

1 apple (sweet or tart, as per your taste)

8 oz of apple sauce (I used organic unsweetened)

4 Tbspoons of apple cider vinegar

2 Tbspoons of fresh grated ginger

1 tspoon each of dried marjoram and oregano

1 Tbspoon of brown or raw sugar (optional)

salt, pepper to taste

olive oil

Shred the cabbage, dice and cut the rest of the veggies. Pour some oil in a big pan and saute ginger and onions till golden brown. Add the cabbage and cook for a couple of minutes, then add potatoes and the veggies and cook till about half done.

Pour apple cider vinegar in and season the ragu, let it cook a little more. Cut the apple in small cubes and add in along with apple sauce and sugar (if you prefer it  a bit sweeter). Cook until everything is done but take care so the veggies won’t become overly soft, you need just a tad of crunch in the cabbage.

Serve along with garlic bread slices for a perfect lunch.

Enjoy!

Thank you Anna! :)

Jul23
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Are you sometimes plagued by sour notes?

I think we all are at some point or another.

And I’m not talking about something major, like when your best friend betrays you, or you were a #1 candidate for that dream job only to find out it went to your less experienced (but much prettier) colleague.

No I’m talking about some seemingly petty things. Like when you see that despite eating healthy and working out, you will never look like a Victoria’s Secret model (even if you wear their lingerie). Or when you have a short chat with your ex-boyfriend only to realize that he got over you and moved on eons ago while you’re only half-way there. Or when you stop for a minute and think that there are a million other food blogs much more successful than yours (even though you have a pool of dedicated readers and still enjoy writing every single entry :) ). Yes, I’m talking “lemony” notes like that.

It’s hard to deal with disappointment, no matter big or small. Our perceptions are often build on expectations, whether real or imagined, thus the whole picture could be skewed depending what exactly you’re waiting to happen.

And when it doesn’t, it seems like your whole world is tumbling down (even though it is not) because the “pictures in your head” were so much better and as elaborate as a 6-hour documentary. So, when you get an equivalent of a 10-minute “pilot preview”, which has very little potential to be developed into any kind of show, you feel lost and disappointed wishing for more than a fleeting moment.

Or maybe you’re just a drama queen!

What’s Cooking This Week

Summer is in a full swing, bursting with colors and an aroma of fresh produce. Veggies are ripe, fruits are juicy, all the reasons to make more nutritious meals. Even if you feel kind of sour. Add some brown sugar then. Food cures anything. Or at least it should. :)

Russian Sweet And Sour Cabbage Soup

1/2 small green cabbage

2 medium white potatoes

1 large carrot

1 medium red bell pepper

2 medium tomatoes

2-3 fresh garlic cloves

5 Tbspoons tomato paste

1/2 lbs bacon (skip for a vegan version)

2 Tbspoon brown or raw sugar

1 Tbspoon lemon-pepper seasoning

1 tspoon each dried basil and oregano

lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste

fresh herbs for garnish

Put a large soup pot with 3/4 full of water to boil. While the water is boiling, cut bacon into smaller pieces and cook until almost done.

Also shred the cabbage, slice garlic into tiny slivers and chop all the veggies, set them aside.

Add garlic, pepper and carrot to bacon pieces and cook for about 5 minutes, set them aside.

When water is boiling, add lemon-pepper seasoning, dried herbs, salt and pepper, taste to see if you want to season more. Then add diced potato and shredded cabbage, cook until both are almost done.

Add bacon and veggie mix into the soup and cook for another few minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes and tomato paste, then sugar and lemon juice to taste.

Cook for another couple of minutes until all veggies are tender but not over-cooked.

Garnish with fresh herbs. One time it is totally OK to immerse yourself into sour notes. :)

Enjoy!