11 May 2009  |  Gardening, Recipes

The Garden!

I’ve always wanted a vegetable garden, but with the amount that Dusty and I travel it never seemed very practical.  Until now.  I decided there was no reason I couldn’t plant a garden full of fall-bearing veggies, and that way I would be around to enjoy them.

So we took a day, cleared and tilled our overgrown garden area, planted a bunch of seeds and set up drip irrigation lines on a timer so we can still water when we are traveling.  I am anxiously awaiting the first little sprouts.  We planted beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, kohlrabi and butternut, delicata and acorn squash.  And some pumpkins.  (Although Dusty told me he is still going to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins at Halloween- I believe his words were “does EVERYTHING have to be homemade?”)

Here is a quick and delicious braised cabbage recipe I came up with when I had a bunch of leftover shredded cabbage from fish tacos (I’ve found that cabbage is best used up pretty quickly or it gets a little funky).  I just shredded the cabbage on my cheese grater.

The apple juice and the balsamic vinegar add a nice sweetness to this easy dish.  I ate it with roasted chicken and potatoes.

Braised Purple Cabbage

• about 3 cups shredded cabbage
• a few dashes of balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup apple juice or cider
• salt and pepper to taste

heat a pan with a little oil, throw in the cabbage and when it softens add the vinegar and juice and cook until most of the liquid is evaporated.