We're in California!
This weekend, David and I are attending the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, CA which leaves us with little time to do blog entries, tweets, and all that other high-tech stuff. We'll be busy watching all the great features and short film entries and keeping our fingers crossed that our entry takes a prize :-)
As there already exist many resourceful sites on the web for great recipes and information on Plant Based Nutrition I thought I'd use busier times to share some of these sites with you to save you the steps of stumbling upon them as I have. The Natural Kitchen Cooking School is one of these sites so today I'm posting the link to their most recent newsletter with Cabbage as the featured Vegetable. I recommend signing up for this newsletter for good content icluding recipes. Anther great site I found with awesome images from nature is Ian Alexander's Natural Patterns. Ian has given me permission to use some of his fantastic photos such as this cabbage spiral. Spirals are found all over the place in nature and I am a big fan!! I draw them in doodles and seek them out without realizing it.
We tend to over look cabbage most of the year with the exception of Slaw in the summer and the occasional stir fry. In our house, red cabbage was always an accompaniment to pork so we basically stopped eating that many years ago when I stopped cooking meat and the plain green kind was replaced by the trendier baby Bok Choy or Napa. After reading the NCS newsletter I got all fired up about cabbage again and started thinking of good things I love to cook with cabbage. Last winter I made vegan Stuffed Cabbage which was a huge success and even when served to non-vegetarians. I remembered one of the BEST meals with cabbage is my sister Sally's Borscht. I know what you're thinking, you think Borscht is all about the beets, but thats only one ingredient in the more rustic Ukranian style of this dish and that is the style Sally makes. Sally is a great, healthy cook but she still uses meat (sausage I think) in her Borscht! (just a little bit, right Sal?) The last time we had Sally's Borscht (a few years ago), David could not get enough which was a super shock because he HATES beetroot, but that is the beauty of this Borscht, the beets are not the major focus!! SO, after reading all about how incredible cabbage is, full of fiber, carotenoids, vitamins and even Omega 3 Fatty Acids, I searched for a vegan Borscht recipe because think of how good and nutritious it is. Not only does Borscht contain cabbage & beets, there are carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, the list goes on & on with yummy healthy ingredients. This search is what led me to another really cool site and you tube video by Hippy Gourmet, definitely worth watching! I will be tuning in to these guys more frequently and I can't wait to try their Borscht recipe.
In the mean time, here is a SHOUT OUT to Sally for her to "vegan-ize" her Borscht and a challenge to make it as tasty without the pork sausage! I know she can do this!!
Hey, does anyone remember Cabbage Patch Kids?
As there already exist many resourceful sites on the web for great recipes and information on Plant Based Nutrition I thought I'd use busier times to share some of these sites with you to save you the steps of stumbling upon them as I have. The Natural Kitchen Cooking School is one of these sites so today I'm posting the link to their most recent newsletter with Cabbage as the featured Vegetable. I recommend signing up for this newsletter for good content icluding recipes. Anther great site I found with awesome images from nature is Ian Alexander's Natural Patterns. Ian has given me permission to use some of his fantastic photos such as this cabbage spiral. Spirals are found all over the place in nature and I am a big fan!! I draw them in doodles and seek them out without realizing it.We tend to over look cabbage most of the year with the exception of Slaw in the summer and the occasional stir fry. In our house, red cabbage was always an accompaniment to pork so we basically stopped eating that many years ago when I stopped cooking meat and the plain green kind was replaced by the trendier baby Bok Choy or Napa. After reading the NCS newsletter I got all fired up about cabbage again and started thinking of good things I love to cook with cabbage. Last winter I made vegan Stuffed Cabbage which was a huge success and even when served to non-vegetarians. I remembered one of the BEST meals with cabbage is my sister Sally's Borscht. I know what you're thinking, you think Borscht is all about the beets, but thats only one ingredient in the more rustic Ukranian style of this dish and that is the style Sally makes. Sally is a great, healthy cook but she still uses meat (sausage I think) in her Borscht! (just a little bit, right Sal?) The last time we had Sally's Borscht (a few years ago), David could not get enough which was a super shock because he HATES beetroot, but that is the beauty of this Borscht, the beets are not the major focus!! SO, after reading all about how incredible cabbage is, full of fiber, carotenoids, vitamins and even Omega 3 Fatty Acids, I searched for a vegan Borscht recipe because think of how good and nutritious it is. Not only does Borscht contain cabbage & beets, there are carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, the list goes on & on with yummy healthy ingredients. This search is what led me to another really cool site and you tube video by Hippy Gourmet, definitely worth watching! I will be tuning in to these guys more frequently and I can't wait to try their Borscht recipe.
In the mean time, here is a SHOUT OUT to Sally for her to "vegan-ize" her Borscht and a challenge to make it as tasty without the pork sausage! I know she can do this!!
Hey, does anyone remember Cabbage Patch Kids?
.JPG)
Hi Meem--LOVE YOUR BLOG-- and i love cabbage soup in all forms and the borscht i had at Veselka's on 2d ave in NYC inspired this basically cabbage soup with some beets. i just chop up cabbage and put it in a big pot of water to boil. I add sauteed onions and a cubed potato or 2 to thicken and a couple of chopped carrots. then some big beans after 20 minutes or so of simmering (limas or gigantes--butter beans?) and 3 beets already cooked and cubed. maybe some beet water. simmer some more till everything is soft. spices such as bay leaf, rosemary, sage, salt, garlic, pepper added to taste and then i add a sprinkling of sauteed hot sausage at the end and sometimes some stew beef (added at the beginning and already simmered for 2 hours or so)--but the ratio of meat to soup is only like 5%. use meat like a spice. to veganize maybe some textured protein or bulgar instead of meat??
ReplyDeleteThanks for the basic recipe Sal! I can use your rough estimate to come up with a good Borscht recipe sans any meat! I'll try it out today and post tonight! I'm unlikely to use any meat subs but will perhaps add some fennel and red pepper flakes to give a sausage-like flavor! YUMBO!
ReplyDeleteanother favorite cabbage soup i call caldo verde because the surprise spice is caraway seed --a favorite spice in Portugal which has many versions of green soups that we sampled there last christmas. This soup has no beets but does have all the above ingredients plus corn and limas. it is so good and just gets better as the days go on. i add the caraway seed near the end of the simmering and a sprinkle of sauteed sausage and then cheese grated on top (just a small amount for flavor). vegan cheese would work great and i am trying to substitute non dairy/meat whenever i can. let me know what you would substitute!
ReplyDeleteyes--fennel and red pepper flakes! perfect. i'll try that. i have a big head of cabbage just waiting--and it is also going to be stuffed cabbage for the play-off games this weekend! love that red cabbage mandala--
ReplyDeletecan we get your stuffed cabbage recipe??
ReplyDeletehi mimi!
ReplyDeleteso glad you have started this blog and please thank david for sending the info! i'm sure y'all have already made it home from nevada city, but hope you may have happened upon floracopeia while you were out there...and how did the film festival go?
can't wait to try some recipes and read about the things you are learning in your courses!
xoxo,
ashley