Cabbage is My New Best Food Friend

January 16, 2015

I love cabbage. In fact, lately I’m obsessed with it! I’ve made cabbage soup, Chinese dishes with cabbage, and I’ve even had it grilled with butter and a little salt and pepper.

Did you know cabbage is healthy and contains more Vitamin C than an orange? Unfortunately, cabbage isn’t a flavor everyone likes, especially kids. It belongs to the same family as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, but it has the least bitter flavor out of that family. You can try to “hide” the flavor of cabbage so the kids will eat it, using these 2 recipes that I made, combining together about 3 different recipes from Food Network:

Carrot Stuffed Cabbage Rolls:

Ingredients:

• 1 large cabbage head
• 2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups raw carrots, finely grated
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups carrot or tomato juice

Directions:

1. Remove the core of the cabbage.
2. Place cabbage in a pot of boiling water and bring back to a full boil. Remove from heat.
3. Keep cabbage in covered pot for 20 minutes. Drain and allow cabbage to cool. (Reserve a bit of the cooking water.)
4. Peel off 16 large leaves. Trim any coarse center ribs and set aside.
5. Saute onions and garlic in oil until clear but not brown. Pour into large bowl. Add grated carrots, rice, raisins and seasonings and combine well.
6. Spoon mixture into center of each leaf. Fold leaf edges over stuffing in an envelope style. Roll into cigar-shapes fastened with wooden toothpicks.
7. Arrange in two layers at bottom of baking dish. Pour the juice over the stuffed leaves, cover, and simmer for half an hour. Add some of the reserved water if needed.

Here is a quick meal you can put together when you are by yourself. This recipe (I adapted it from a hot, spicy Chinese recipe) makes enough for one person or you can use it as a side dish to serve more.

Chinese Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cabbage, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 medium clove garlic, pressed or chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 4 ounces (a small boneless, skinless one) cooked chicken breast, shredded or cut into 1 inch cubes

Directions:

1.  Toss all ingredients together and serve.

How easy is that for a quick nutritious dish? Your kids might even want to take some to school for lunch.

Enjoy this underrated vegetable in so many different ways.

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