In Honour of the Humble Cabbage
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| Common white cabbage |
As I'm struggling to manage my time in a way that includes daily 'Making it in March' blog posts, I thought I would update this morning to include something I often overlook... cabbage!
I always make the most of a cabbage and can recommend this to absolutely everyone, even those who think they don't like it.
Last night's dinner was chicken fajitas but I was completely out of peppers, so our tortillas weren't looking like being very well filled. But fear not! Frugalers improvise, don't they?
Bring on the humble cabbage!
I shredded some cabbage and cooked it with onions then added that to the frying chicken pieces with spicy mix. Wrapped in warm tortillas and served with cheese and salsa, H didn't even notice that the peppers were missing, nor did he notice he was eating cabbage until I pointed out the replacement ingredient.
From one who never ate cabbage as a child - eugh, soggy cabbage! - I have found so many uses for it in my adult life that I simply don't know how I would manage without the humble cabbage now! It's a bit of a lifesaver for this frugal household! It's relatively cheap, it's relatively easy to grow, I think we should invest much more effort into growing it and other close relatives of the Brassica family. In fact, I have grand ideas for the 2014 green garden!
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| Cabbage scraps |
Cabbage scraps can be cooked and fed to the chickens, added to compost, fed to the worms and even used to grow more cabbage.
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| Stir frying cabbage |
Stir fried as a replacement for peppers in an assortment of dishes including chow mein and fajitas.
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| End off a red cabbage in a jar of water |
Try your own experiment - I have a red cabbage and a white cabbage now 'rerooting' to begin growing new leaves. They may never be full side but they are edible.
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| The red cabbage rooted and growing |
Even if you don't eat the leaves, these are fantastic experiments for children to encourage an interest in vegetable growing (and eating).
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| Stuffed cabbage leaves |
Instead of cannelloni, how about trying rolling some of the mix inside cabbage leaves. A you can see, you can cut the leaves or stuff them whole.
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| Cooking the cannelloni with stuffed cabbage leaves |
Cabbage and cheese? Yes! I stuffed my cabbage raw and baked it with the cannelloni to show the difference. H ate the small one without realising it was cabbage. (He does like cabbage, I'm not deploying any guerrilla food tactics here, but if I was... I'd be winning any war.)
A Few More Cabbage Suggestions:
- Raw, fine shredded with grated carrot and salad cream as frugal coleslaw
- Stuffed and baked with any suitable filling
- Sushi style with rice
- Used in place of pasta sheets in lasagne style dishes
- Used in place of peppers in stir fry
- Use in place of aubergine/egg plant in moussaka-style dishes
- Cabbage can be baked, steamed, boiled or fried
- Made into soup
- Braised red cabbage - it freezes well
- Pickled cabbage
Traditional Remedies:
- Juice of red cabbage used for chronic coughs, bronchitis, asthma.
- Juice of white cabbage used to treat warts.
- Bruised leaves of white cabbage used for blisters and inflammation.
- Applied warm (wrapped in a towel) to chest during bronchitis, cough, or breathing problems
- Used as poultice - I have actually used cabbage poultice on a horse's foot
- As a dietary aid (anyone remember the wacky cabbage soup diet?)
Let me know if you can think of any other uses for cabbage. I may have overlooked some but the above are those I am aware of and have tried.
