Cabbage is a real favourite vegetable around here. Filled with vitamin C and loads of other vitamins and anti-oxidents, it's very, very good for you. It's also quite low in calories, so it's a great diet food as well. (I'm quite sure most of you will have heard of the cabbage soup diet!)

A lot of people don't like the smell of it cooking, but I am afraid I'm a wierdo. The smell of cooking cabbage sets my tastebuds to tingling in anticipation. It's one of my all time favourite smells!




My mother always made the most delicious cabbage rolls. She cooked them in her largest aluminum wearever cook pot. She'd layer them in the pot along with big chunks of carrot and potato, and huge wedges of cabbage. She had no secret sauce, simply a large tin of tomatoes . . . the flavours of all the vegetables made for a really rich broth and intense flavours. We all loved them! They were a real treat!

As many times as I have made them myself, mine never quite taste as good as the memory of hers. They are one of the things I always look forward to eating the most when we go home to visit . . . along with her homemade pea soup, her beef stew and a big pot of her homemade baked beans . . .



My mom also makes the world's absolute best coleslaw. She slices the cabbage very thinly by hand, and then chops it up really fine along with carrot, cucumber, celery and onion. Her dressing is a bit of this and a bit of that . . . I don't think she ever makes it the same way twice, but no matter . . . it's always really, really good.



My mother's father used to make his own sauerkraut.   He made it according to folklore and the moon, and it was always just wonderful. In fact, the juice from the raw kraut has been used in my family for many years to cure various ailments and sicknesses. It is a taste I love, both raw and cooked.

My mother always cooked it along with ham hocks and served it up with big piles of mashed potatoes. I always liked to slather my potatoes with lots of butter, and then stir the kraut into them. It was sooo very tasty to me . . .



I guess you could say that cabbage is like the ultimate comfort food for me, fresh or pickled. It evokes so many lovely childhood memories.

I discovered this particular recipe several years ago in a cookery book by Tamasin Day-Lewis, entitled, Tamasin's Weekend Food. It has since become a real favourite of ours.

The mixture of the cabbage and the sausage meat creates a magical taste combination that is unbeatable . . . the long slow cooking breaks the cabbage down until it is almost buttery . . . the juices of the cabbage and sausage melding together into a melting deliciousness that is just the best flavour in the world.



We like to serve this with mashed potatoes, but baked potatoes are equally as good.

This is just good cookin . . . plain and simple . . . extraordinary flavours . .. a wonderful taste treat for a cold and wet late autumn afternoon . . . 

This is one of those recipes which only serves to prove that delicious needn't be complicated!




*Stuffed Cabbage Trou Style*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

I got this tasty recipe a few years back via a cookery book by Tamasin Day-Lewis, who got hers from Jane Grigson. With so many great cooks involved, how could it fail to be delicious! Simple ingredients, but the flavour is spectacular.

3 to 41/2 pounds of cabbage, cut into thin strips
1 1/2 pounds of good quality, free range sausages
salt and pepper to taste
butter



Pre-heat the oven to 150*C/300*F. Generously butter a large casserole dish. Set aside. Cut a piece of greaseproof paper to fit the top and set this aside as well.

Place the sliced cabbage into a large pot of salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for five minutes, then drain well. Run cold water over it to stop it from cooking any further and drain well again.

Remove the skins from the sausages and discard.

Layer 1/3 of the cooked cabbage in the casserole dish. Season well with salt and pepper. Top with 1/2 of the sausage meat, pressing it out to fit over the cabbage. Top with another 1/3 of the cabbage. Season again and then top with the remaining sausage meat, pressing it out as before. Top with the last of the cabbage, season again and then dot with some butter. Cover tightly with a layer of greaseproof and the the lid of the casserole dish. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the cabbage is meltingly tender. Serve, sliced into wedges with your choice of side dishes. We like buttery mashed potatoes and steamed beans with this. Delicious!

  

Well, here I am back from my Nova Scotian summer holiday and have I ever had a wonderful time!!!! During the past three weeks I have eaten some pretty incredible things . . . indulging myself at whim with all the things that I can't get over here, tasty treats from home . . . once every three year gastronomical delights!

Things like . . .




A good feed of my mom's homemade baked beans . . . all molassessy and scrummy, served with oodles of homemade bread slathered in lots of cold butter . . .




Several Hot Turkey Sandwiches . . . a real Canadian treat, with lots of tender turkey, tasty gravy, fluffy mashed spuds and carrots . . . along with cranberry sauce and some incredibly delicious coleslaw! Not once, but twice . . . ahem . . . Have I mentioned that I am a bit of a glutton?



The naughty indulgences of Pillsbury Pizza pops, North American Hot dogs, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner, Crispy Crunch chocolate bars . . .



And that old childhood favourite, Cap'n Crunch Cereal . . . yes . . . a big tasty bowlful every morning. *blush*




An incredible Cassoulet cooked by my son . . . rich and chock full of deliciously tender pieces of duck and smokey sausage . . . oh my but was it good . . .




A gargantual feast of Chinese Fried Chicken wings at the local Chinese Buffet place . . . oh sure, I had a few other things . . . like wontons and chicken balls . . . not to mention some beef and broccoli and noodles . . . but it is the wings that get me every time. They are one of the things I really look forward to eating when I am back home in Nova Scotia . . .



AN incredibly rich and delicious vanilla and choclate swirl soft ice cream at a roadside ice cream parlour in Berwick Nova Scotia, served up in a waffle cone . . . such a treat on a hot, hot, hot day!! I can't believe I ate the whole thing!!



Oh so yummy rich and tasty Date Cream Pie, with a buttery crust and fluffy meringue topping. This was some good eating!



A feed of buttery, fresh Nova Scotia local Peaches and Cream Corn . . . I just couldn't get enough of it. I think I ate 4 ears!



The best pan fried Haddock I have ever eaten, served up in a little local restaurant on Long Island, just off of the Digby Neck. It was cooked perfectly and served up with a tasty side order of delicious mash and fresh valley vegetables. Oh my, but this was good, seriously good!



My mom's fresh dinner rolls. Does anyone ever make rolls as good as your mama??? I don't think so!!




A wonderful salmon dinner at a friends house . . . marinated all day in his secret marinade, and then cooked on a cedar plank over the barbeque, this was fabulous!! Served with fresh locak green and yellow wax beans and some tasty roasted potatoes,onions and carrots. I went back for a second helping of the salmon, it was soooooo good!! (I know . . . me bad!)



Sweet and tasty local valley Strawberries, with oodles of cream and sugar on top. Ahhh . . . the taste of a Nova Scotia July . . .



You can't travel in the maritimes without feasting at least once on a tasty Lobster Roll. Lobster is as cheap as chips back home and most places have a Lobster Roll on the menu, filled to overflowing with rich and tasty Maritime Lobster . . . even McDonald's serves them!



And last but not least the most heavenly Coconut Cream Pie on the planet . . . rich and creamy and stogged full of lovely, sweet flaked coconut . . .

Yes . . . I ate every single crumb . . . and enjoyed every mouthful!

Pssttt . . . I also managed to tuck in several Turkey Subs from our local Sub Way, filled to overflowing with lots of pickles, hot peppers and um . . . olives, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and umm . . . yes . . . turkey! (We won't talk about the Cherry Cheese Danish from Tim Hortons or the iced caps!) Guilty as charged.

The diet starts today.

Or well . . . maybe not.

 

 

I thought that it would make the perfect dinner for today when I knew time was short and my energy would be flagging. I actually put them together this morning before I left and stuck them in the refrigerator, ready to throw into the oven for my supper tonight.

I did take them out about half an hour before I cooked them in order to bring them to room temperature.  Here you have a delicious mix of sweet and white potatoes, along with broccoli, topped with chicken, cheese and bacon, with the flavors of ranch dressing running through out.

I used Town House Brand Dry Ranch Dressing Mix and pre-grated orange strong cheddar cheese.  I also always have cooked bacon in my freezer.  I just use my kitchen scissors to cut it into bits.

We enjoyed these today with some wings and ribs from Costco and an Oriental salad.  I couldn't eat the wings as they were too spicy for me . . . the ribs were likewise.  (I don't like really spicy food.)  I polished off my potatoes and salad however.  Both were very, very good.  Yes, I am incorrigible. 

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