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Cabbage and Bows

February 28, 2011 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 11 comments

When I was little, I HATED cabbage. That didn’t stop my mother from putting it in quite a few meals. We often ate kielbasa, cabbage, and potatoes on the grill in the summer. And then there was sauerkraut and pork (BLEH), and stuffed cabbage, or halupki as it was known in our house. I can remember the very smell of some of these dishes making me want to run for the hills. Sorry, mom!

I really can’t remember when I started to like it, but now I can’t get enough cabbage, pickled, in salads, coleslaws, braised, and all other forms. One of my favorite things about visiting Prague last winter was that there was cabbage with every meal.

The other night, still feeling awful and unable to cook or eat much, I returned to my childhood for a simple, comforting meal, cabbage and bows. I have included a real recipe at the end of the post, but I just winged it, remembering flavors over measurements.

I started with about half of a sweet Vidalia onion, chopping it into thin pieces. The onion should cook down quite a bit, so you can feel free to make it as small as you like.

Vidalia onion

My childhood cabbage and bows was made with green cabbage, but I had a purple cabbage on hand, so that is what I used.

purple cabbage

I roughly chopped up about a cup of cabbage for the pasta and ate about half a cup while chopping. Raw purple cabbage is so good!

purple cabbage

The chopped onion and cabbage get added to a generous amount of butter, Kerrygold for me, enough to coat the bottom of a frying pan. You could use something lower in fat like a butter substitute, but I wouldn’t. Butter gives this dish flavor, and it is comfort food after all!

image

Back in the day, cabbage and bows was made with bowtie pasta. I also didn’t have that stocked in the cabinet, but I did have some whole wheat rotini which worked just fine.

image

While the pasta cooked, I cooked the cabbage and onions down in the butter until they were nice and soft. I mixed the cabbage, onions, and butter with the finished pasta, added salt and pepper, and climbed under a pile of blankets to get some much-needed comfort.

cabbage and noodles

Do not, I repeat, do not get sick. I take pretty good care of myself, but I think I let some of the stress of all of the changes and wondering in my life right now get to me big time. 

The last time I left my house, other than to go to the doctor on Thursday, was last Tuesday. Help!

Do you have a food or foods from your childhood that you hated then and love now?

Tags: butter, cabbage, childhood recipes, comfort food, cooking, Food, onions, pasta, recipes, vegetables, Vegetarian

Green Meatloaf

February 14, 2011 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 11 comments

Happy Valentine’s Day! Do you have any fun plans for the day/evening? Due to my being away and my husband’s gazillion hours of work this weekend, our plans are still up in the air, but I am sure we will think of something!

Last night’s dinner, inspired by recent recipes on Alicia’s and Emily’s websites, looked a little more like something you would serve on St. Patrick’s Day, and with Valentine’s Day on its way out, green is where it is at.

I usually make meatloaf several times over the course of the winter; during the last Presidential primaries, meatloaf became a good luck charm when we ate it on the evening our candidate won several states. Following that, I made meatloaf on the evening of all big primaries.

I returned from visiting my family in NJ craving some comfort food as I was missing them and had a harrowing drive back that included a warning from a state trooper. I was also intensely craving greens, and thus green meatloaf was born.

spinach meatloaf ingredients

The ingredients were few: 1/4 onion, chopped, three cups of spinach chopped, a container of ground turkey, one egg, a drop of ketchup, some ground pepper, and salt.

I started with my favorite kitchen tool, these salad shears from the Foodbuzz Festival swag bag. With these my spinach was chopped into tiny pieces in no time, ready to be quickly sautéed with the onion in a bit of oil.

salad shears

chopped spinach

I cooked the spinach down just a bit, then cooled it while I mixed the ground turkey with the egg, pepper, and salt. I then folded in the spinach.

spinach meatloaf

When everything was well blended, I placed it in a loaf pan to cook at 375 until the meat was cooked through. I pondered using a muffin tin to make mini meatloafs, but I envisioned meatloaf sandwiches and went with the loaf pan instead.

spinach meatloaf

About 20 minutes in to cooking, I drained off some liquid from the meatloaf to make sure it cooked up nice and brown. Then I started on the sauce.

Muir Glen was so incredibly generous last month, and I am still reaping the rewards of attending their dinner at Garden at the Cellar.

image

I added a can of the Muir Glen organic tomato sauce to the pan that the spinach was cooked in, then added a pinch of red pepper flakes and some garlic powder.

Muir Glen tomato sauce

When the meatloaf was done, I cut it into slices, topped with tomato sauce, and served with my incredibly easy and delicious mashed potatoes.

spinach meatloaf

Just a bunch of potatoes, boiled until soft, drained and mixed with Kerrygold and skim milk, mashed until creamy.

mashed potatoes

Does it get any more comforting than meatloaf and mashed potatoes?

meatloaf and mashed potatoes

I’ll be tucking this recipe away and making it again in the very near future, maybe as part of our St. Patrick’s Day feast. Speaking of St. Patrick’s Day, my birthday falls on the same day as the Boston parade this year, what should I do?!

Tags: comfort food, dinner, Food, health, healthy healthy recipes, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, Muir Glen, recipe, recipes, spinach, tomato sauce, turkey

Brunch for your Valentine

February 11, 2011 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 12 comments

Another Valentine’s Day post because I happen to love Valentine’s Day AND because it provides a good excuse to drink Champagne, eat chocolate, and linger over indulgent meals.

With Valentine’s Day falling on a Monday, it is the perfect time to celebrate twice, once with a leisurely Sunday brunch for your Valentine and again on Monday.

smoked salmon omelet ingredients

You know a meal is good when you think about it for years. The day after I ran the Bermuda International Marathon in January 2004, I had one of the most memorable omelets that I have ever had at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess. I loved everything about the hotel, especially its beautiful waterfront location and the fact that it is PINK, but the post-marathon omelet sealed the deal.

This omelet had flecks of salty smoked salmon peeking out behind ribbons of melted brie all whipped into fluffy, airy eggs. It was the memory of this omelet that inspired my breakfast the other morning, and it is a recipe that could easily wow your beloved this Sunday morning for brunch.

I started with a few pieces of smoked salmon, chopping it into tiny bits. To the salmon I added some grated Kerrygold cheese left over from the bread I made the other day.

smoked salmon and cheddar

For my own omelet, I used only two eggs, but the recipe is easily doubled or quadrupled for brunch for several people. You can, of course also just use the whites for a lower fat omelet. I like the nutrition that comes from the yolks, so I left them in Smile

omelet ingredients

To the eggs, which I had whipped with a ball whisk, I added the salmon and cheese, about 1/8 up of skim milk, and a small pat of butter, chopped up into pieces. I heated up a tiny bit more butter in my smallest frying pan; I find it easiest to make a pretty-looking and fully cooked omelet in a smaller pan. When the butter was melted and the pan very hot, I poured the egg mixture in, cranked the heat up as high as it would go, and waited until the top of the omelet started bubbling, then solidified.

smoked salmon omelet

To get the omelet out of the pan, I placed a plate over the top of the pan, then held on to the plate and the handle of the pan while flipping the pan over. A piece of the omelet stuck in the pan, but otherwise, it came out without breaking! And I was able to fold it over to showcase the golden brown side. Fancy, isn’t it?! Smile I was kind of excited about how nice my meal was. I added a few scoops of homemade salsa which consisted of Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, a bit of red onion, two jalapenos, three cloves of garlic, and a little bit of olive oil.

omelet

The combination was excellent, filling, and healthy. Interested in making this for a special Sunday brunch? If I was making a Valentine’s brunch for my husband (which I won’t be doing because I am going away and he is working alllllll weekend), I would pair this with some oven roasted potatoes, maybe something sweet like mini cinnamon rolls, and of course a glass of bubbly, maybe a Billecart Salmon Brut Rose? Then, I would take my time eating, drinking, and relaxing for the rest of the day!

Do you have a really memorable meal that has been on your mind for years like the omelet I had in Bermuda?

Tags: breakfast, brunch, brunch at home, cheddar, eggs, healthy, omelet, omelets, protein, recipe, recipes, salsa, smoked salmon

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