braised cabbage with horseradish cream

Does anyone else put their ear buds in and then forget to turn on the music?  Or is that just me?

Also this week:

• the day the internet stopped working – whaaaaaattttt?!?!?
• my favorite new kitchen tool
• birthday celebrations
• new recipe – braised cabbage with horseradish cream

The Day The Internet Stopped Working

And the world stopped turning!!

I DO NOT EXAGGERATE!!

Here’s how this went down:

• We all rely on the internet and I seriously did not realize how much I personally relied on it until about two weeks ago.  One day it was working 24/7 and then all of a sudden, and without warning, it worked 2/7.  And those 2 hours were when we were ALL AWAY FROM THE HOUSE!
• The two older kiddos have tablets and they both get one hour of tablet time if they have been good all day.  This hour is conveniently planted right before dinner time -> when they are tired and hungry and want to fight <- and I need to focus directly on getting real food delivered into their tiny bodies.  It’s a win-win really and the whole set up keeps this well-oiled family machine running smoothly.
• Until one day.  One day you innocently hand each kid their tablet and walk into the kitchen only to hear, “Uh mama? My tablet isn’t working??” and the littler one pipes up with “mine either mama!” And then mama spends the next hour trying her best to get the internet working again so that she can just make a healthy meal!!
• That led to defrosting the kids favorite soup from my freezer stash while I simultaneously held a babe on one hip, held my phone to my ear, held two kids apart, and held my breath, all while being put on HOLD by the internet customer service.  It was a lot to hold all by myself and I barely held it together before scooping cheese covered soup into bowls, whispering all the bad words under my breath, and hanging up on the internet service because 46:23 minutes later they still hadn’t answered my call.
• YOU BETTER BELIEVE I COUNTED EVERY SINGLE MINUTE!!  AND I DRANK ALL THE WINE!!  Oh wait, we were talking about the internet…
• Fast forward two weeks, at least seven more phone calls to the company, a repair man who came out and actually MADE THINGS WORSE, and we have a new internet service being installed next week.
• Oh, and how am I sending this to you know, you ask?  Well, as soon as we broke down and ordered a new service, say it with me everyone: THE INTERNET STARTED WORKING AGAIN.
• And if that doesn’t deserve an eyeroll, I don’t know what does.

 

My Favorite New Kitchen Tool

I got a new toy last week.  I had been on the fence about purchasing it for a long time – would it live up to the hype? Was it really just a lazy way to cook? But can’t I just do all these things on the stovetop?

Short story: I sat on the fence for WAY too long – it’s amazing!!

Here’s the backstory:

• I live in a small house with an even smaller kitchen.  Counter space is limited, and there are only so many cabinets to hold kitchen utensils, pots, pans, and appliances.  And because space is limited, any new thing that comes into this kitchen (1) has to have a landing  space, and (2) be as useful as possible.  Nothing is allowed to stay unless it call pull its own weight around here, me included.
• So when I kept seeing this new cooking appliance called an “Instant Pot” I was intrigued, but thought that this was just the newest cooking craze that would soon be obsolete.
• I COULDN’T HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG.
• This new Instant Pot started showing up on every corner of the universe – my friend got one, then another friend got one, then ALL my friends had one!  Big name food bloggers were adding cooking instructions to their recipes geared just for the IP (that’s what the cool people call it – wink!)!! There were facebook groups (in the millions) that just sat around sharing recipes for their IP, talking about recipe wins in their IPs, showing off their delicious meals made with their IPs – and I was drooling.  But I still wasn’t sold.  I mean, it’s an expensive machine.  So I waited.  And I watched.  And I drooled some more.
• Then my crock pot died.  Don’t be sad though, we adopted it from the thrift store about five years ago, and it was a model from the early 80s, so it lived a good life.  haha!
• But then I thought, “welllll, the crockpot is dead, I SHOULD PROBABLY GET THE INSTANT POT TO REPLACE IT!!”
• And I started to high-five myself….a little too early.  Turns out the IP is more of a pressure cooker and not so much of a slow cooker, so I was back to square one – sitting on the side lines while watching all the chicken, rice, and yogurt come of out of other peoples IP’s….
• WAIT. ONE. MINUTE. Did you just say this thing can make yogurt??!?  *grabs a calculator and starts calculating* 
• My kids and I eat yogurt.  ALOT of yogurt.  Could this pay for itself?  Could this be the way I can talk myself into paying so much for a kitchen appliance??!  So I kept watching….but now I started watching while simultaneously researching how to make yogurt in the IP….
• AND THEN IT HAPPENED!!!!
• One of the bloggers I follow posted that Amazon was having a sale on the IP !!  And not only was it $50 off, it was the same IP that could make yogurt!!
• I’m now the proud owner of an IP!!  I got this model and it’s amazing!!  I’ll give you guys the full review next week.  🙂

 

Birthday Celebrations!!

My tiny, little, adorable, blue-eyed, firstborn babe tuned seven this weekend!  My heart stopped beating for a second while I digested that fact on Friday.  I mean, wasn’t it just yesterday that I brought his tiny little 5lb 10oz baby body home from the hospital?  All wrapped up tightly, so careful to not drop him as I thought he just might break.

Avery:

• Has the most infectious laugh that I have ever heard.  He always wants to play, laugh, run, and make a game out of whatever it is that we need to do.  Time to get into the car?  Why don’t we hop to the car like a bunny?  Do we need to get some cauliflower?  Why don’t we shoot it into the grocery cart like a basketball?  See that hill over there?  Let’s race down it on our scooters!!  He’s a never ending bundle of energy and fun!!
• He loves to solve problems, put things together, build things, push the buttons/boundaries in any way possible and without ANY help or instructions.  I foresee wild teenage years ahead for both of us!!
• He is stubborn and hardheaded, but his gorgeous smile and sparkly blue eyes get him forgiven a lot.  He got all of those traits from me and I’m proud to be his mama!!
• He is full of “why/what/how/when/and even more why’s” – I can’t keep up with how fast he wants to learn everything!!
• He is thoughtful, kind, and considerate, and I couldn’t ask for anything more!!
• HAPPY HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY BUD – I LOVE YOU!!

 

Braised Cabbage with Horseradish Cream

Are you a fan of cabbage?  It’s one of my favorite things to eat, and to grow in the garden.  There are so many varieties of cabbage that there seems to be a never-ending supply of delicious ways to enjoy it!

One of my favorite ways to eat cabbage is braised, and here’s the most delicious way I’ve found to enjoy a braised cabbage so far – completely covered in a horseradish cream sauce!!  Gah, you guys!!  So creamy, so delicious, with just a hint of freshly grated horseradish…*drools on the keyboard!!*  Once you make this braised cabbage with horseradish cream, I promise that you will be dreaming up ways to serve it with every meal!

Now I just need to figure out how to make it in the IP!!  🙂

XO,

Jenn

braised cabbage with horseradish cream

recipe from Saveur

makes 4 servings

1 head of green cabbage (about 2 1/4 pounds)

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup freshly grated, or prepared horseradish

1/3 cup dry white vermouth or white wine

salt

black pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Remove a few of the large outermost leaves from the cabbage.  Rinse the leaves, and place them around the perimeter of a wide, shallow stovetop-safe baking dish or small dutch oven so they come partially up the sides.

Cut the cabbage into 8 wedges.  Arrange the wedges over the leaves with their points facing up in the baking dish.

In a medium bowl, whisk the cream, horseradish, vermouth, and a pinch of salt and black pepper; pour the mixture over the cabbage.  Dot with the butter and cover with a tight-fitting lid.

Set the dish on a burner over high heat and cover it.  Let it cook until the cabbage steams to a brighter green and looks slightly wilted at the edges, 4-6 minutes.  Remove the cover, and using a baster or a large spoon, drizzle the tops of the wedges with the cream mixture.

Transfer to the hot oven, uncovered, and roast, basting once halfway through, until the cabbage is tender and caramelized at the tips, 35-40 minutes.