Farmer’s Market Finds
This week I made a cabbage chicken salad for dinner, inspired by a fun new variety of cabbage I stumbled on at our local farmer’s market.
One of the kitchen skills I have been honing is the ability to plan meals around fresh ingredients I harvest from our garden, or find at the grocery or local farmer’s market that are fresh and in season. This means I can’t necessarily meal plan ahead, make a list, and shop for the specific items on that list. It requires a little more flexibility and creativity, to work with what you harvest or bring home! But it’s fun, and the more I practice, the better I am getting 🙂 (If you are curious to read about other meals inspired from fresh produce finds, check out this collard wrapped enchiladas post and this farmer’s market post.)
Last week we stopped by the farmer’s market while we were out. There were a few things we found that I had never seen before! I had to try them. They were: conehead cabbage, purple onions, and baby artichokes. Have you ever seen a conehead cabbage? It was so unique, I couldn’t pass it up. And it was just the right size for two people.
I later learned that conehead cabbage is a milder, sweeter version of the standard round green cabbage heads we’re more used to seeing. Fun fact: it is often used in German cuisine for making sauerkraut.
Making Cabbage Chicken Salad with this Conehead Cabbage!
One staple we used to make in my home growing up was a Cabbage Chicken Salad that had cabbage, ramen noodles, almonds, grapes, and a vinegar-oil dressing. I decided to take this as my inspiration, and make a fresh new version with my fresh new cabbage variety. This version is:
- Colorful!
- Low carb
- Low fat
- Medifast “lean and green” friendly!
I used the purple onions from this same farmer’s market trip, but you could substitute green onions no problem. You can also use half a head of a “normal” round, green, cabbage instead of this fancy conehead variety. But if you happen to see one at a local farmer’s market, it’s always fun to try cooking with something new!
Check out all the recipe details below for this cabbage chicken salad – conehead cabbage or other!
Equipment
- Grill
Ingredients
Veggies
- 1 head conehead cabbage (or replace with ½ head standard round green cabbage, sliced)
- 1 purple onions (or replace with green onions, sliced)
- 9 sweet snacking peppers (or replace with ½ bell pepper of your choice, sliced)
- 1 cup green grapes (cut in half)
Dressing
- 1 tbsp EVOO (plus extra for chicken)
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- ½ – 1 tsp raw honey (adjust to taste)
- Salt and pepper (adjust to taste)
Chicken and Garnish
- 1 pound raw chicken breast
- Penzy's Mural of Flavor spice, or your own favorite seasoning (to season the chicken before grilling)
- Toasted sesame seeds (for garnish)
Instructions
- Rub the chicken breast with olive oil, and coat with the Penzy's (or other) spice and some kosher salt.
- Grill the chicken until it reaches an internal temp of 165°F.
- Let the chicken rest about 10 minutes.
- Slice, chop, or shred the chicken – whatever you prefer!
- While the chicken is resting, chop up the rest of the vegetables, and mix together the dressing ingredients.
- Toss all the ingredients together and enjoy immediately!
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