Welcome to the Cabbage Patch

Do you love cabbage? Do you hate cabbage? I love cabbage. My husband hates it. Even though it's sooo yummy. And I've started to convert him, because I do not boil cabbage (ick! I almost never boil any veggie - it's just cruel!).

Cabbage is full of vitamins C and A and lots of antioxidants. It is a great source of fiber - one cup of cabbage has 15 grams of fiber in it. Red cabbage especially has great cancer-fighting properties. Cabbage helps heal peptic ulcers and lower cholesterol as well. And all that for very few calories - how can you not love it? If you are a Weight Watcher, you know - anything with that much fiber and so few calories is a great food for losing weight.

There are lots of varieties of cabbage - green cabbage, red cabbage, Savoy, napa cabbage. It is a cruciferous vegetable, like kale, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. Peel off the outer layers, which tend of be tough and dirty. Cut out the core and just rinse the rest of the cabbage. Then slice or chop the rest of the head. I love sauteeing green cabbage, as this brings out its sweet flavor. Napa cabbage is especially great in salads. There are so, so many ways of preparing cabbage - sauerkraut (Reuben sandwiches - yum!), cole slaw, cabbage rolls... I made this Beef and Cabbage Stir-Fry last week, and it was a big hit, even with by cabbage-hating husband.

Eating Well

But my absolute favorite cabbage recipe is, as always, super simple. Slice up half of a head of green cabbage, and chop one large onion. Saute the onion and the cabbage in butter until very soft and starting to brown, about 25 minutes. Like this

Meanwhile, cook one pound of egg noodles according to package directions. Add the noodles to the cabbage with some salt and LOTS of freshly ground black pepper. Yum! Oh my, I could eat this every day, and we have it for lunch on weekends at least a couple of times a month. In fact, I I'm going to go make some right now!