Cabbage Rolls - Stuff em' & Sauce 'em up

It was lunch time of our second day of whole grain/veggie/fruit eating. Sandwiches were no longer in the equation (especially since we had eliminated all the bread from the house and had not yet found the Ezekial sprouted grain breads or the dark rye whole grain flat breads). So I thought, how do I make a lunch that's not a soup or a salad? I thought of those delicious Vietnamese spring rolls, and saw the cabbage in my fridge. This is what happened! With sauces and fillings, these have infinite possibilities. Make this sweet, salty, spicy, nutty, etc. That part is up to you, as is basically ANYTHING you want to put inside a steamed rolled cabbage leaf. There are a few sauces below -- and ideas to get you started.

 Meanwhile, I ransacked the fridge and made variation 1.

CABBAGE ROLLS, variation 1
6 large cabbage leaves
1 cup watercress
bunch of cilantro
1 package enoki mushrooms
some thinly sliced red onion
some thinly sliced red pepper
one dill pickle, thinly sliced, in strips
GARI (pickled ginger - can be bought or follow the recipe to come)

1. Peel 6 large leaves carefully off a head of cabbage, placed them curl side down around a steamer basket in a pot, and steamed them (lid on of course) until the were just soft enough.
2. Lay out one leaf at a time on a plate, curl side up, placing some of each ingredient  along one side of the stem.
3. Roll the leaf edge up and around the ingredients tucking under close to the stem and then roll to the opposite edge. Place on a plate rolled side down! Decorate with a couple thin slices of onion or red pepper or sprig of cilantro -- whatever pleases your eye!

And then for a more substantive meal, Variation 2.
CABBAGE ROLLS, Variation 2


Same exact process, except I cooked the stuffing:
1 sweet potato, peeled & steamed in slices
approx. 1 cup of snow pea pods
approx. 8 shiitake mushroom caps, sliced
clump of fresh parsley
1 TBLSP tamari

1. Steam the sweet potato slices. Steam the cabbage leaves.
2. In a small saute pan, put 1/2 cup water and after de-stemming the snow peas and muhsrooms, place t them in the pan with 1 Tblsp tamari, cover and cook, stirring a bit, until ready to eat.
3. Construct same as above, plopping sweet potato and some of each of the snow peas, mushrooms and parsley inside, and rolling.

SAUCES: Make What You Like! Use these sauces on the Cabbage rolls, but also pour them over plain vegetables, use Peanut Sauce them to make Brussels sprouts into satay ... or the Lemon Savory Sauce to turn Green Beans into a heavenly side dish. All can be used for dipping, or to make leftovers into a party. In fact, making Cabbage Rolls out of small leaves, you can stuff them with anything you like for a party -- olives with mushrooms, curried sweet potato, crunchy edamame and sunflower seeds... what ever you like.  For kids, you can put together small bowls of ingredients and have them roll their own!  Turn cabbage leaves into the new tortilla to lose weight, filling them with your favorite beans, rice and hot sauce!

Mushroom broth:  Use the cooking water from the snow peas and mushrooms and add Black Vinegar.
Peanut Sauce: This is a great addition to nearly any plan vegetable.  1/4 cup peanut butter (we use crunchy with a little salt), 2 Tablespoons Tamari, 1 tsp Black Vinegar, 1/4 cup water -- stirred until well mixed. You can dip in this, or pour it over brussels sprouts ...
Lemon Savory Sauce: Another great one for vegetables (we love it on green beans). Juice of 1/2-1 whole lemon plus about 2 tsp Ume Plum Vinegar -- add garlic if you like -- top veggies with slivered roasted almonds, or just dip your cabbage roll!
Dumpling Style Sauce:  2 Tbsp Tamari, 1 tsp Black Vinegar or white wine vinegar, 1 clove garlic finely chopped, 1/4-1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger root, 1/4 cup water
Miso-ChickPea Creamy Sauce: 1 Tbsp white miso, 3 tsp chick peas (cooked soft or canned), 2 scallions finely chopped, fistful of cilantro finely chopped, 1/2 cup water (hot if you want it on hot veggies)

3 Great Soups for Any Weather: Spicy African Peanut Soup, Cauliflower Leek Soup, Carrot-Ginger Soup

Here are three soups that have been delightful for dinner, and then for lunches.

First, a Spicy African Peanut Soup!  Adjust the cayenne for your taste.

African Spicy Peanut Soup w/Sweet Potato & Coconut  

Based on Deborah Madison’s recipe she got from James Peterson’s Splendid Soup book

NO OIL (or 1-2 tbsp roasted peanut oil to saute)

1 large onion chopped in 1/2 inch dice

2 large garlic cloves minced

1 cooked sweet potato, peeled, steamed in slices and chopped into small cubes

3 cups water ((save any steaming water and use it for this)

1 cup chopped cilantro with stems

1/8 (she said up to-1/2) tsp cayenne or hot red pepper flakes to taste

1.5 tblsp curry powder (she said 2 tblsp)

a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes – or your own quart jar with juice

2/3 c peanut butter – organic not sweetened

1 cup light coconut milk (or more if you want)

sea salt

Directions: 

    1.  Heat about 1/2 cup water in a soup pot and sauté onions, garlic & cilantro stems til just starting to soften (10 minutes). Add sweet potato cubes, cayenne and curry, stir and cook a couple minutes.

    2.  Add 3 cups water and the tomatoes. Stir well, bring to boil. Drop in the peanut butter and simmer until peanut butter has  dissolved and onions are soft – about 15 minutes. Stir in coconut milk. Season with salt – not much though. 

    3.  Before serving, add the toppings of your choice. Top with cilantro/lime/yogurt/ --

        whatever you like! Even crisped onion or nothing at all!

Spicy African Peanut Soup Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (200g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 198 10% Total Fat 12g 19% Saturated Fat 2g 8% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 264mg 11% Total Carbohydrate 19g 6% Dietary Fiber 5g 18% Sugars 9g 0% Protein 7g 15% Vitamin A 11% • Vitamin C 23% Calcium 6% • Iron 11% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com based on my estimates

SECOND: A simple Cauliflower Leek Soup based on a recipe of the month on the internet from cookshopny.com, so creamy without dairy!

CAULIFLOWER LEEK SOUP

8 cups of strong vegetable broth (I used a box of Field Day Savory Organic Vegetable Broth)

1 whole head of garlic roasted

The white part of 2-3 leeks chopped (save the greens for making a stock)

1 large head of cauliflower sliced and chopped

1/4 cup of toasted pumpkin seeds

4 Tbsp chives chopped finely to garnish

Directions:

     1.   Roast garlic at 400 F for 30 minutes.

     2.   In a large saucepan fry the leek in a little water until soft. Add in the cauliflower and stir for a couple of minutes until starting to soften. Squeeze in the roasted garlic pulp.

     3.  Cover with the vegetable broth. Bring to the boil, then simmer FOR 30 minutes until the cauliflower is soft.

     4. Let the mixture cool enough to put batches in the blender. Transfer to a clean pot and heat on low to serve. Garnish with pumpkin seeds, chives or scallions. 

Cauliflower Leek Garlic Soup Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (300g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 40 2% Total Fat 0g 0% Saturated Fat 0g 0% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 268mg 11% Total Carbohydrate 9g 3% Dietary Fiber 2g 9% Sugars 3g 0% Protein 2g 4% Vitamin A 1% • Vitamin C 73% Calcium 4% • Iron 5% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com based on my estimates

THIRD:  DELICIOUS CARROT GINGER SOUP  

(I made this one up to have it the way I like it, warms the cold edges!)

8 medium sized carrots, peeled and chopped

1 medium potato, chopped with skin

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1-2 chopped parsnips  

1 large chopped onion

2 medium chopped stalks of celery

1.5 tsp dried tarragon

1/4 tsp or 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup leftover winter squash (acorn, butternut, hubbard whatever!)

6 cups water

Directions:

     1.  Chop up onion, parsnip, carrots, and celery and cook about 35 minutes with grated fresh ginger and tarragon in 3-4 cups of water until starting to soften. 

     2.  Add salt and squash (I used this because it was left over ...). Cook another  5-10 minutes, and puree! You could use vegetable broth instead of water.  Serve plain, with scallions, with plain coconut yogurt, or a little oven sizzled garlic!

Carrot Ginger Soup Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (436g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 101 5% Total Fat 0g 1% Saturated Fat 0g 0% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 178mg 7% Total Carbohydrate 24g 8% Dietary Fiber 6g 23% Sugars 6g 0% Protein 2g 5% Vitamin A 46% • Vitamin C 33% Calcium 7% • Iron 6% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com based on my estimates