Hello, beautiful.
I have a secret to share with you about food photography.
Don’t eat all the food before you photograph it!
I’ve been there before. It usually involves Holly nog smoothies and Chocolate Cake Batter Smoothies.
Want to know another secret?
Photograph an easy subject, like fruit and veggies.
They do all the work for you. Run water over them before shooting and they glisten for the camera. Easy!
Not so easy?
Try taking pictures of a black bean dip. Then help me fix mine. I may hurl.
But let’s talk about the actual food for a minute. Can you believe this is the first time I’ve made a recipe with a red cabbage?
I’m guessing I’m probably not alone.
What the heck do I make with it?
Soup?
slaw?
more soup?
stew?
Being the planning-challenged gal that I am, I put this huge cabbage in the shopping cart and let it take up valuable refrigerator real estate for 1.5 weeks. Every time we opened the fridge a clunky, purple bowling ball would roll out at us.
Eric finally said, “Are you doing something with that thing or should I throw it in the woods?”
sigh.
It got so annoying, I just said, FINE I’LL EAT IT…and I hacked it up with a knife.
Only when you hack it up with a knife, it quadruples in volume.
DOH!
Keeping my 12 Days of Healthy Dinner Recipes in mind, I decided to turn this cabbage into a hearty salad after coming across this recipe for inspiration. To make it a meal, I added quinoa, a complete protein, to go along with it.
I really did not think this was going to taste good…
But I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again.
To make this salad, start by slicing your cabbage in half, through the stem. Now slice each half in half again to make quarters. Then, make 1/2 inch slices and roughly chop it all up. It doesn’t need to be precise or perfect!
Want to know the secret to eating a “raw” cabbage salad? You pour boiling water over top of it to lightly soften it. Then run cold water over it immediately after.
Now thinly slice a red pepper into strips and cut strips in half.
Shave a carrot with a peeler and chop a few celery sticks:
This is when I started to get excited about this meal. It’s just so vibrant!
Oh, add some finely chopped fresh herbs for a nice flavour. I used parsley.
I kinda flip-flopped on the salad dressing.
At first, I was going to make a vinaigrette, but I thought a salad this hearty and dense needed a thicker dressing. So I turned to my favourite Lightened-Up tahini-lemon dressing, thinking that it could be the perfect match…
I’ve been right before and I’ll be right again. :)
I’m convinced you could pour this dressing on a piece of cardboard and it would taste good! I know many of you also love this dressing because you write me about it and then we talk about how we can’t help but drink it with a straw. Or something like that.
When I made it, I almost forgot to add the nutritional yeast and kept tasting it thinking something was majorly off…it was thinner than usual and a bit too lemon-y. Once I added the nutritional yeast it thickened up and tasted just how I remembered….finger-licking good. If you don’t have nutritional yeast but still want to make it, I would suggest using less lemon juice and maybe not adding the bit of water. But yea, use the nooch if you can.
I made a half batch, but now I’m already wishing I made the full batch…
Mix it all up, add on some toasted sesame seeds (or hemp seeds), and you have yourself a killer, nutrient-packed salad.
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Over The Rainbow Cabbage Salad with Tahini-Lemon Dressing
Purple vegetables, such as this cabbage and others like eggplant and blueberries, contain anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are chemicals that protect body cells, decrease the spread of cancer cells, and more (source). Be sure to add some toasted sesame seeds (or hemp seeds would work) on top to compliment the salad nicely. I served it with fluffy garlic “buttery” quinoa, as a complete protein source.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
- About 6-7 cups of roughly chopped red/purple cabbage (I used 1/4 of a large cabbage)
- 1 carrot, shaved with a peeler into 2-3 inch strips
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 handfuls of fresh parsley, chopped finely (or use other herb)
- Half a batch of Lightened Up Tahini-Lemon Dressing (or make the full batch and save for later)
- 3-4 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds (or use hemp, sunflower, etc)
- Salt & pepper, to taste ( I used Herbamare)
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Toast the seeds for about 8-10 minutes, watching closely. Remove and set aside.
2. Add several cups of water into a kettle and bring to a boil. Lightly rinse the cabbage and slice in half, through the stem. Slice each half, in half again and roughly chop. You’ll want about 6-7 cups.
3. Add chopped cabbage into a strainer in the sink and pour the boiling water over top. Quickly rinse with cold water. This helps soften the cabbage slightly. Roughly dry the cabbage with a hand towel.
4. In a large bowl, mix the chopped celery, pepper, cabbage, shaved carrot, and parsley.
5. Prepare the dressing by whisking all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. The salad tastes best when the dressing is mixed just before serving, so I suggest you portion out how much salad you will be eating for the meal and then add on your desired amount of dressing & mix well. Wrap up any leftover salad and place in the fridge and do the same with the leftover dressing.
Note: I wasn’t sure if I would like this salad so I didn’t make a crazy amount, but next time I would probably double the salad (and make the original dressing amount) to use up more of the cabbage. I had about 3/4 of the cabbage leftover!
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I served the salad with some “buttery” garlic quinoa. After cooking 1/2 cup of quinoa, I fluffed it with a fork, sprinkled on Herbamare and garlic powder, and then added a tablespoon or so of Earth Balance. It was to die for!
This meal made me feel so good…I was doing a happy dance in the kitchen. It was just the right mix of veggies, healthy fats, protein, and carbs to keep my energy buzzing along. Eric also really loved it too, even though he said he probably wouldn’t like it. I think we both surprised ourselves.
I must say, it feels great to get back into the healthy meals after a bit of a hiatus. I sometimes forget just how good I feel when I eat this way.
Now, the question is…what the heck do I do with the leftover cabbage? I barely made a dent in it!
This is a perfect recipe for a season filled with sweets and treats and so much temptation!!! …and I swear your tahini dressing is perfect on just about everything!!!!
I love red cabbage, it makes every meal so vibrant and pretty. I like to cook it till it gets to a deep purple color and add it to pasta and tomato sauce with a bunch of veggies and spices.
This recipe sounds great. Superfood central!
Leftover red cabbage is fab. Take it and saute it with a little evoo, earth balance, brown sugar (a tiny bit) apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. So good. If you want to go crazy, toss in some toasted pecans!
Thanks Cat, thanks sounds amazing!! Will def try this tonight.
Try adding a Granny Smith apple or two to the mix. I use this recipe (sub brown sugar for white):
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/red-cabbage-and-apples/detail.aspx
Thanks Hayley!
I love to make a stir fry with red cabbage. Slice it into thin strips or keep it as a rough chop. It’s delicious with SeaTangles (kelp noodles), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, any bell peppers, tomatoes, or any other vegetables or seeds that you want to add. Season to taste with garlic salt, Braggs Aminos, some cayenne pepper, whatever you like. It is very hearty and nutritionally dense. You can eat it hot or let it cool. Sprinkle sesame seeds over top and enjoy.
This looks amazing, Angela! I have more energy just LOOKing at this salad!
Thank you for your healthy meal suggestions – they’ll surely come in handy after (if not during) the holiday indulgences.
The colors in this are amazing! Cabbage is one of those things I have to REALLY want in order to justify buying it because it just never ends and I usually end up hating it by the end when I’ve eaten about 5lbs of roughage!
WOW! I love the bright colours in this recipe Ange! I agree with you on the whole valuable real estate in the fridge thing – watermelons are even worse, but they don’t last nearly as long in my house! I really like red cabbage in salads so this sounds great. Gorgeous photos as always!
Cabbage sautees really well in stir fries. I love how vibrant this salad is, I feel healthier just looking at it lol.
Hey Angela!
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to give it a try. Especially with the quinoa. I just bought a box from the grocery store and it will be my first time cooking with it. I’m excited. Anyways…I just wanted to reply to your question at the end about what to do with the rest of the red cabbage…I LOVE red cabbage. My mum taught me how to cook it and since living on my own (I am a student at the University of Guelph) I eat it multiple times a week because its sooooo good. Pretty much you take your cabbage and put it in a pot with some water (probably about a cup depending on how much cabbage there is..maybe fill the pot just under half way ) and then you add some balsamic vinegar (i’d say about 1/3 of a cup). You can also use regular vinegar and add some sugar instead. You then boil it until the liquid is gone. It smells kind of weird when cooking (my roomates hate me when I make it) but its delicious and makes my plate look gorgeous with all the colour!
Thanks Sarah that sounds great! I love anything with balsamic vinegar.
This looks incredible! I love cabbage… and quinoa… and tahini based dressings!
Also, I wanted to say (if I haven’t before) that I love your photography style. It’s so simple and colorful, and the lighting is always bright and beautiful. I’m absolutely jealous of all the colorful napkins and bowls you use, too.
Another awesome post, as always. :)
Thanks Willow! You are too kind. Oh and those napkins? They are often stained dish towels….shhh our little secret ;)
I think it’s time to make borscht!
That would be fun…do you think it would work in a slow cooker?
This is a gorgeous salad! Great tip about pouring the boiling water over the cabbage.
With the leftovers, I recently made a cabbage dish where I sauteed onion, garlic, ginger, and serranos with coconut butter, then added the cabbage, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce. Once that was done I tossed it with toasted sesame seeds and Chinese 5-spice. It was delish – I think I ate 1/2 a head alone!
That sauce sounds like it would have paired so well with it. I will have to try that.
This looks delicious!! I love red cabbage–I eat it all the time. Usually get mine pre-chopped, though.
To add to what Cat suggested- caramelize some onions and make a braised cabbage dish. Super good! Plus, cooking down the cabbage a bit takes away some of its harshness and creates a somewhat sweeter end result. You could also make an asian style slaw with with a peanutty sauce.
I love those ideas! I don’t think I’ve made a peanut sauce before either.
You must make a peanut sauce pronto! So good with wok veggies and brown rice plus you could throw in more cabbage as that is a common Asian ingredient
I will get on that for sure…yummy!
That looks great, and I don’t even like cabbage! I’ll have to try it now.
I can’t help you with the leftover cabbage because I’m the WORST with leftover veggies! This looks so good though – I’ve been feeling like I need to eat a big bowl of just veggies lately because I’ve been eating rather poorly :( I blame the holidays, but December 14th is not a holiday haha..
Loving the vibrant, bold, pretty purple of the cabbage and the dressing sounds great.
Cabbage is one of those foods that the minute you slice into it, it just multiplies before your very eyes on your cutting board. I need to make extra dressing to accommodate it :)
The colors are great and I bet the texture + flavors were perfect! I don’t buy cabbage often, but it’s always a nice change of pace when I do. We’ll even just use it as the base for our daily dinner salads. The crunch is awesome! I’ve also dressed it with lime juice, a little honey + pepper, to go with Mexican-themed dinners. Yum!
Gorgeous photos!!
I add red cabbage to your Detox Salad for extra color. You can send you extras to me~ I have 4 rabbits that live inside (don’t ask- it’s all my husbands doing! They have a dog exercise pen that they stay in, they aren’t running around with my cat) and they LOVE cabbage! They get all the scraps of fruits and veggies that are left!!!
Looks sooo yummy! :) I love red cabbage! we use it a lot in Poland :)