Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew | or what to do with half a head of cabbage

So, after I made the sweet potato and cabbage curry I was still left with a half a head of cabbage staring at me every time I opened the refrigerator. And really, it's not like we had had enough gas inducing meals for one week, why not just keep em' coming right? I turned to a vegan website that I frequent whenever I need to find delicious recipes that also happen to be weight watchers friendly, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen - I have loved everything that I have made from her collection. I think she may be putting together a cookbook soon, and if she is I'll be one of the first in line, as her recipes are always great. And if you just can't get enough technology, you can also become a fan of her on Facebook and get her recipe updates on your facebook news feed.

I haven't yet asked her if I can repost her recipe, so for now, if you want to make this recipe just follow this link for Vegan White Bean and Cabbage Stew. I did not modify this recipe one bit. I was a bit nervous to feed it to Chris for dinner, thinking it wouldn't be tasty or satisfying enough for him; man was I wrong, he went back for seconds and thirds. The next day he actually texted me with the following; "I can't wait to go home and eat that stew". There's a ringing endorsement if I've ever heard one. Funny he didn't text me to say, oh, I don't know, "I can't wait to go home and sex you up." Married five years and all we think about is our stomachs.

So, that's it for the cabbage recipes, but I must say, this little exercise has made me curious - if I went to the market tomorrow and bought two completely unrelated vegetables, how many google recipe possibilities would there be? I smell a challenge. What do you think, give me some combinations - don't cheat and do a Google search first - just think about the produce aisle and two things you might find that are completely unrelated and leave them to me in the comments and I'll see what fun I can have with them. Don't wait for someone else to comment either, just give em to me.

Rating = Damn Good

A Sweet Potato, A Cabbage, A Minor Nervous Breakdown | Spicy Sweet Potato and Cabbage Curry

So, the travel and conferences for March are over. The past three weeks have been a blur, I don't remember a lot of it, I just know I've been rushed, stressed and exhausted everyday. My face has started to twitch, you know, the annoying twitches around your eyes that make you feel like you've got a family of maggots living on your cheekbone just below the skin surface? 


When I pulled into the driveway late Friday afternoon, with all my trips and meetings behind me, I shut off the car and before getting out I cried, real quick - just to let some of the stress out. I really have no idea why, I'm not an emotional person, and I certainly am not the kind of woman who sits in her car alone and cries, but you know what, I did it, and it felt good. 


I managed to get to the market to buy some fruit and vegetables to have in the house, when I got home and emptied the bags I could not understand why I had decided to add a ginormous head of cabbage along with one sweet potato to my cart. So sitting in the kitchen, the abnormally large cabbage and sweet potato staring back at me from the counter, I started Googling. All the directive I gave the search engine was, "sweet potato "cabbage" "recipe" and up popped a number of options for me and my two rogue vegetables. I settled on on a recipe featured on a blog titled Insomniac Chef for two reasons, I had all the ingredients on hand, and it seems easy enough to plug into the Weight Watchers recipe builder and determine the points value for it. Here is a link to the original recipe on the Insomniac Chef blog, and below is my Weigh Watchers version of the recipe. 


Spicy Sweet Potato and Cabbage Curry | WW 3 pts
Makes 6 Servings


1 tsp canola oil
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tbsp ginger root minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup onion chopped
2 tsp curry powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 - 1.5 lbs sweet potatoe cubed
4 cups green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 cup raisin
13 oz chick peas (canned)
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tbsp peanuts
1/4 cup cilantro


Heat oil in a large wok or skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, curry powder, salt, and cayenne until the onion starts to brown -- about 5 minutes. Stir in cabbage, sweet potato, chickpeas, raisins, ginger and garlic. Saute 2 minutes more. 

Stir in the broth and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes (stirring occasionally). When the veggies are soft spoon the curry into bowls and garnish with the cashews and cilantro.


I was nervous about giving this to Chris for dinner, but he loved it. It is spicy, and we paired it with a Chris South African Chenin Blanc  - delicious. So, if you find yourself with a cabbage and a sweet potato, you know what to do.


Side note for anyone here in the northeast, have you ever planted sweet potatoes? I'm thinking of trying my hand at it this summer and could use some tips.


Rating = So Damn Good

Thank You Sir May I Have Another

Just because this is awesome news.

Women Who Drink Gain Less Weight

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/women-drinkers-gain-less-weight/

Thank you thank you thank you whoever funded this research! AM, bust open another bottle of 33!

I want to write you a letter

I want to write you a letter, and food posts and barrel fever posts and all that happy horse shit, but alas its March, one of the busiest times for my job and I find myself a little stretched thin, a little stressed and a little bit crazy. I love you guys, but the next few weeks are going to be tough for me to get anything up onto the blog, I'll do what I can. Expect a shit ton of stuff in April to win back your loyalty.

PS. Spring fever in is full effect. Vegetable garden planning has started.

Jules