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Hi Reader,

I hope you've had a good week! We're spending this weekend at our daughter's new place (with her husband of just 5 months!), visiting and doing a bit of work around their property.

The garden cabbages are coming in like gangbusters (no matter that I tried to stagger the plantings and varieties 😂) so with cabbage on my mind, I thought I'd share all things cabbage today (among a few other things).

I want to start, though, with something I noticed only this year - I'll have to test it out to see if it's real or a fluke, but I thought I'd share anyway!

As you may know, I grow brassicas like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and kale under cloth and insect netting pretty much all season now. Not only does it keep the cabbage moths away, it also keeps most aphids off of the broccoli and kale.

However, this year I ran out of room in my rectangle beds that I cover and had to plant 4 cabbages in the round rock bed that I don't cover (I grow tall flowers in this bed as well). I thought if they made it, they made it. I had previously lined this bed with onion seedlings and so the cabbages were planted inside the onion edging.

Well, two months later I couldn't believe what I saw:

Perfectly clean cabbages! Not only were there no sign of cabbage worms, there were no aphids on the leaves, either (and they had gotten under the netting on some of the covered ones!). What??

I mean - look at how beautiful that looks! I was shocked, honestly, because my experience is that cabbages not covered at all always were smaller and pest-ridden. The only thing I can think of is that the onions helped keep the moths and aphids from finding the cabbages.

I kept an eye on them and a few weeks later I saw that the moths finally found them and you could see a bit of damage on the outer leaves (but still no aphids). So I harvested them and they were all good sized and super clean on the insides. Yay!!

So I will definitely test this next year to see if it works again.

The Best Cabbage Recipes

I will go on record as saying that I didn't like cabbage growing up - not even coleslaw because the slaw was always covered in a weirdly sweet mayonnaise based dressing (which is why there are NO dressings like that in my recipe archives for coleslaws!).

As an adult I discovered that cabbage was great in stir-fries and so I grew some in the garden, which meant I better find more ways to use it up, lol.

And now I can safely say that cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables! I eat sauerkraut daily on my salads and I make slaws almost weekly (and crave it alongside pulled pork!). Here are my favorite recipes:

• ​Easy Mild Fermented Sauerkraut​
• ​Cumin-Lime Coleslaw (Lightly dressed and perfect for tacos.)
• ​Cabbage Salad with Creamy Feta Vinaigrette (The closest thing to a creamy dressing you'll find, ha! And so so good.)
• ​Bacon Caesar Slaw (The kids favorite - honest!)
• ​Spicy Asian Flavored Slaw (I love serving this with soy-sriracha grilled chicken thighs.)
• ​Roasted Cabbage Wedges (One of the most popular recipes on the site - you can grill them, too.)

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Storing Cabbage

Whole cabbage will last for a 2-3 months in the fridge when stored right:

• Leave as many outer leaves as possible - it's nature's protection against spoiling faster.
• Do not wash the heads.
• Set directly in crisper drawer if the head has lots of outer leaves to help retain moisture, otherwise put them in a plastic bags or airtight containers.
• TIP: Even if the outer leaves look brown and wizened after a few months, peeling them off usually leaves the clean inside!

Cut cabbage doesn't last as long - the standard number is 3-5 days, though I've had half heads that were good almost 2 weeks later (I just needed to cut the browning ends and remove outer leaves). I did read that covering the cut end with a damp paper towel may keep it fresher longer.

Still have cabbage left? You can freeze it! Really. It's one of the vegetables included in my Freezing Produce The Easy Way cookbook. 😀

From The Blog

​Spicy Peanut Noodles with Chicken & Veggies​ I updated this super easy main dish salad to be included in the pantry recipes series because it's so versatile to use what you have. On regular repeat during the summer! ​ RECIPE HERE! ​

​Savory Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread with Cheese & Herbs​ Another updated recipe in time for the summer zucchini glut harvest. A nice change from all the sweet breads (though they are good, too!) ​ RECIPE HERE! ​

A Few More Things

• I just finished this slightly shorter audiobook comprised only of letters. I've really enjoyed other books like this (the classic A Woman Of Independent Means still ranks up high on my all-time best list) and this was no exception. The letter writer is 73 at the beginning and we see her life past and present as well as future as time goes on and it's just a lovely way to spend some time. You'll think about her choices as well as life in general, friendship and forgiveness. I'm sure it would be good to read in book form, but the audiobook was really wonderful as they had different actors read the letters so you got to know the voices of the writers.
• One of the things I look for at thrift stores are glass measuring cups with embossed markings - I've learned the printed markings on modern glass fade and disappear with time, sadly. Well, they are harder and harder to find - you just see the glass cups with all the markings rubbed away.😂 So I was thrilled to discover this reproduction 1-cup glass measuring cup in a pretty blush color (it's also in a dark green). I bought one for both me and my daughter! I also saw they have a GORGEOUS 4-cup version with a sweet rounded shape.💜

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So appreciate you reading along! Remember you can hit reply to connect with me - I read every email that comes. 😀 Have a wonderful week!

PS- Remember to tag me on Instagram so I can see what you're making!

Remember it's easy to save recipes on An Oregon Cottage! Just click the heart when browsing to save your personal favorites! TIP: when you click on the link, it will take you to my site - click the heart like you see here to the left - it will be on the bottom right on the site. A pop up form will come up for you to create an account (or sign in if you already have). You need to create a password for this account (no info is kept besides your email) and then you can save all recipes and articles to this account and access it anytime to remember what you want and choose what to make!

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