You want your family to eat food that tastes good, that's healthy but you don't want to spend hours in the kitchen right? If you're like us, you want vegetables to be part of your family's daily diet. But tell them that “cabbage” is for dinner and you’ll probably get a bunch of moans and groans as this conjures up thoughts of food lines and cabbage gruel. It just sounds frumpy too...."CABBAGE".
And forget about trying to sell the idea to them that cabbage has an outstanding nutrient profile and is especially high in vitamins C and K. And that eating cabbage may even help lower the risk of certain diseases, improve digestion and combat inflammation. Most kids (and adults) don't care about that stuff.
In my family, everyone wants FLAVOR! And that's how you sell the idea of cabbage, by adding some tastiness that compliments cabbage very well, namely BACON. Anything is better with fried bacon right?
Trust me, you’ll love this, even though cabbage isn’t exactly the sexiest veggie at the grocery store.
I always ate this dish as a kid so I grew up actually liking cabbage and I still do today! I asked my mom how she does it because I wanted to make it myself and here’s pretty much what she told me. You can experiment with the amount of kick. I like it a little spicy, so I add a good amount of black pepper.
Here’s what you need.
0 cal Pam cooking spray
1 head cabbage
1/2 onion
4 bacon slices
1 tsp dice garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
2 chicken bouillon cubes
Coarse black pepper to taste
Directions:
Sometimes the cabbage has soft, wilty stuff on the outside of it. Peel those pieces off and discard them.
Cut the cabbage head down into strips. Not super tiny pieces, but you don’t want big, flat pieces because it’s harder to eat that way. I quarter the head of cabbage and then cut each quarter into small strips.
Dice up your onion and garlic. (I use pre-diced garlic….so much easier and quicker.)
Cut the 4 bacon slices into small thin strips.
In a big pot, spray a little 0 cal pam and heat up the pot with medium heat.
When the pot is hot, add the olive oil bacon, garlic, and onion and sauté. This heavenly smell will make everyone hungry!
After the onions have softened a bit, add the cabbage and stir around. (The pot will be really full, but the cabbage will reduce down when it softens.)
Add the chicken broth and bouillon cubes and black pepper. I like it a little spicy, so I use about 1-2 tbsp of pepper. Stir around.
Cover and let it steam on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
Stir and cover again for another 5 minutes. Keep stirring until the cabbage turns softer and changes to a yellowish brown color. This should happen in about 10-15 minutes of steaming and stirring.
That’s it. Super easy. Serve it with any protein of your choosing and enjoy! We had it with grilled salmon the other night. Yum.
