St. Paddy’s Day #1 Cabbage Duo

I have taken a few weeks off, but no worries I have a lot of fun to come.  Stay tunes tomorrow for a fun St. Paddy’s Day recipe.  It is that time of year again where I see cabbage at the local grocery store and decide to buy one with no plans of what to do with it.  

Ahhhh the small but mighty head of cabbage.  Once cut, it grows into a forrest of greens that is useful for large batches of multiple recipes.  In this case I decided to go with a chicken cabbage soup and a traditional creamy cole slaw.  The cole slaw was actually adapted from the recipe on the back featuring pretty basic ingredients.  I added a kick of Sriracha (about a tbsp) and used half greek yogurt and half mayo in the dressing, both which I highly recommend.

 

Creamy Cole slaw

Cabbage and chicken soup

The “dump” soup was a result of an impulse buy of cabbage in honor of St. Patrick’s Day so I used ingredients I had at home.  First searing carrots and celery in a pot, then adding the a few cloves of garlic.  Then I added a can of crushed tomatoes and chicken stock I made a few weeks prior from the bones of a roast chicken.  At that time I added the cabbage and let simmer about 15 minutes before adding the chicken which I poached in the liquid until cooked through before pulling into smaller pieces.  As I recall the only other addition was salt and pepper.

Summer Slaw 2 – Cabbage Slaw

This recipe came from a clean eating site called http://ifoodreal.com.  

It is a take on the traditional summer slaw perfect to accompany a main dish at a BBQ.  Better yet it makes a TON of coleslaw for very little cost and its healthy too.  Letting slaw sit in the fridge is key as well as adding a hint of sweetness to the dressing which in this case was 1 Tbsp pf maple syrup.

Ingredients

• 4C red cabbage, shredded
• 5C green cabbage shredded
• 3 carrots, shredded
• 1/4C cilantro
• 1C greek yogurt
• 2T apple cider vinegar
• 1T maple syrup or honey
• 1T mayo (I used light)
• 2t olive oil (I used lemon)
• salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1-2T lemon juice

 

Sweet and Spicy Slaw

This recipe I created off of several different slaw recipes I found.  I ended up with a recipe most similar to the one in Fine Cooking Magazine (putting my Christmas gift subscription to good use).  I also used some ideas from Simply Recipes “Slaw with Cranberry Orange Dressing” I concluded that I wanted to have a sweet, savory, and crunchy aspect to the slaw.  I wanted a base of cabbage with some sort of added color and flavor from either carrots, fennel, or apples.  I needed acidity and my personal favorite is apple cider vinegar.  I needed a little sweet so I went for orange juice.  In the herb department- mint and the nut topping- toasted and salted almonds.  These were used both because they are a personal favorite but also because I had them on hand from another recipe.

Photo of the recipe from Fine Cooking and my dressing.

 Ingredients

• 1/2 Head cabbage about 4 C, shredded(I used the least expensive)
• 2 carrots, shaved (or broccoli stalks)
• 1/2-3/4C orange sweetened dried cranberries
• 1/2C mint
• 1/2tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper
• salt to taste
• 3Torange juice
• orange zest from 1 orange
• 3-4T apple cider vinegar
• toasted salted almonds to your liking

 

I really wanted to make this as a side to a great pulled pork sandwich or picnic lunch, but I wanted to be sure it was a hit before making it again.  i enjoyed how much this made at such a cheap price and I plan on making it more often.

 

Sweet and Spicy Slaw

1. Put cranberries in a small bowl with boiling water 10 minutes.  Drain and pat dry.
2. Whisk together mint, cayenne, cumin, orange juice, salt, vinegar.
3. Stir in zest and cranberries and mix into cabbage and shaved carrots.
4. Top with almonds before serving