Galumpki (Cabbage rolls)

Galumpki are a hearty and delicious meal to make during cabbage season. These are a family tradition and a family recipe that we've enjoyed for years.

Braised red cabbage with cranberries and maple

Beautiful red cabbage is braised with fresh seasonal cranberries, pure maple syrup, apple cider, and warm spices for a flavorful and colorful fall and winter side dish that is perfect for the holidays.

Tofu & mushroom miso ramen bowls

This ramen is full of delicious flavors of miso, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, sesame, and more! Give your ramen noodles a makeover with the flavorful recipe for tofu and mushroom miso ramen bowls.

Pork egg roll bowls

The flavors of a pork egg roll come together in a delicious stir fry perfect for topping a steaming bowl of rice.

Sheet pan kielbasa, cabbage, & potato dinner

This easy meal filled with smoky sausage, sweet carrots, cabbage, and potatoes and drizzled with a maple, mustard, and apple cider vinegar sauce is a simple and filling weeknight dish! 

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I've been making this dinner since I first got inspiration over at the amazing Budget Bytes about a year ago. I've changed it over time and also scaled it up a bit to feed our hungry family of four and it remains one of my favorite simple and budget-friendly dinners. 

I'm trying to post more frugal recipes on my blog lately as being a frugal mama is where I am these days. Since we are getting close to St. Patrick's Day, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots tend to be on sale and even more budget-friendly than usual, so this is a great time of the year to try out this meal. It's also very adaptable - you can easily add more or less of the vegetables that you wish. 

You can use red or russet potatoes instead or yellow. I use turkey kielbasa (a great Aldi find!), but you can use your favorite kind. This meal will feed about four people depending on age and hunger level.

Pork and cabbage stir fry

This simple stir fry of ground pork and cabbage is sweet, sticky, and a little spicy and simple to make. It's a delicious weeknight dinner for the whole family.

Sauerkraut two ways

Homemade sauerkraut can be made in small batches using a Mason jar and a few other items.

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I tried a couple batches of sauerkraut this fall and recently pulled them out of the back of the fridge to give them a smell and taste. They are good, and definitely have a funk that you expect from ferments and sauerkraut. I think that I still have a way to go before "perfecting" my ferments though. 

I'm finding that so much depends on the temperature when you start the ferment. You need to check it to make sure it's still bubbling and that it's not getting too warm (should be room temperature). I have used the recipes in Nourishing Traditions as a baseline for making my sauerkraut. These recipes make one quart and use 1 medium head of cabbage to two tablespoons of sea salt. 

It can come out a bit salty and I'm hoping to find ways to use less -- you definitely don't want to use a super fine grain salt, it will be too much. I discovered that you can use reCAP Mason jar lids to turn a Mason jar into a fermenting crock (find instructions here). 

It's great! Plus when you finish the fermenting process, you can use them to cover the jars in your fridge, or replace them with a regular Mason jar lid and use the reCAPs to make more ferments. They are also great for using your jars to make salad dressing, syrups, etc. that you can easily pour and store.

The two sauerkraut recipes I made are for jalapeno kraut and caraway kraut. Both make 1 quart of sauerkraut. I'm hoping that these recipes will inspire more people to try fermenting and preserving foods.

Cabbage roll soup

Galumpkis (cabbage rolls) are a favorite meal of ours; however, they can be time consuming to make on a weeknight. 

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I saw this sauerkraut cabbage roll soup and was inspired to create a soup version of our classic family dish. As you've already seen, I've been canning and preserving a lot this year. This has provided me with an abundance of diced tomatoes - so I already had those on hand. I've made a couple small batches of sauerkraut, had some cabbage in the fridge, and ground beef in the freezer (from our 1/4 grass-fed organic cow we ordered this year). 

I've been making broths as well. I'm really trying my hardest to cut our food costs while ensuring that we are still eating well as much as possible. Since we are in the harvest season, this is the easiest time of year to do that and that's why I'm canning, freezing, etc. more than before.  

This soup is a great example of a relatively easy and inexpensive dinner that utilized ingredients that were already in my home. This recipe will make about four to five main dish servings of soup. 

Cabbage and chicken coconut curry

Do you love cabbage? Or, does cabbage only make an appearance in your life in slaws and maybe sauerkraut (both of which I love by the way)? 

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I feel like cabbage doesn't get enough respect and deserves to be the star of more dishes in my kitchen. I saw a cabbage curry recipe recently that inspired me to make a curry dinner around this vegetable. This curry is mild and very simple. 

A lot of curries are full of spices, which can sometimes be overwhelming if you don't have a very well-stocked spice rack. I make curry dishes fairly regularly, often with a lot of spices (because I do have a very well-stocked spice rack - I love spices), but this one was nice because it was not only quick and simple, but really delicious. 

I served this curry with some Basmati rice and chili-garlic sauce. I think the chili-garlic sauce, or just some chili sauce on the side can be nice. This way everyone can add their preferred amount to give this curry some heat. This recipe will serve about four people.

Pork chop and sauerkraut casserole

An easy and flavorful dinner for two - pork chop and sauerkraut casserole bake is perfect for an autumn evening meal.

Borscht

Honestly, I didn't become friends with beets until the past few years. As a kid, I couldn't stand them...as an adult, I love them.  

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We were given a large bag of beets and for some reason I became determined that I must make borscht. Why? I'm not sure - other than the fact that I like to try cuisine from all over the world. I've never eaten borscht, but for some reason I felt like it was my duty to turn some of these beets into it. There seem to be numerous spellings of borscht and even more ways that you can make it. 

I read a bunch of different recipes, surveyed my fridge and freezer, and this is what I came up with. I must say that both my husband and I were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed it.

This recipe is a bit time consuming, but it's worth it to get the best flavored broth and to get a lot of the excess fat skimmed off the top. This photo is from right before we ate it, but, like pretty much any soup or stew, it gets better the next day. 

It's a nice meal for these cold and rainy days we are having and it will easily serve four to six people.

German sweet and sour red cabbage

German sweet and sour red cabbage is a colorful, delicious, and classic side dish to meals like brats, Schnitzel, Sauerbraten, and more. It's so flavorful and perfect for enjoying all autumn and winter long.

Hot and sour chicken, cabbage, and rice soup

We finally got our first real snow of the season here in western NY. It's crazy that it's a couple of weeks into January and we hadn't really had any measurable snow here yet. 

 

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It's very unusual and just didn't feel like winter. Now that we have a nice white covering, I'm officially into comfort food mode. For me, that includes a lot of soup. This soup was inspired by a recipe I read recently on The Kitchn. 

 

I read it and couldn't believe the amount of jalapeno, fresh ginger and garlic that were in this soup. I knew that my husband, who is a big fan of spice and heat, would be able to handle it like nothing....but I wasn't so sure about me with the heat. I did cut back a little...

I loved it (sure, it made me cough a little when all those pungent ingredients hit the heat!). When I ate it, the ginger hit me in the back of the throat and it did clear up my nose a little bit, but it was a good heat. It was warming and spicy and delicious - perfect for a winter evening. 

 

I would highly recommend it if you or a loved one has a cold or is stuffed up. If you are not a big fan of heat, you may want to cut down on the jalapeno or ginger. This is a very versatile recipe. Y

 

ou could cut out the chicken and add more mushrooms and other veggies for a vegetarian version. You could substitute rice noodles or soba noodles for the rice. Whatever you like. It's great to make if you have some leftover chicken. Plus, I am always looking for new ways to incorporate cabbage into our diet. This recipe will make about six servings.