Tag: cabbage

Categories
Main Dish

Everyone will polish off their plates with this sheet pan meal

A Polish sheet pan dinner is easy to make in short order, with fresh cabbage and onions, along with frozen pierogi and smoked sausage. It’s all topped off with a freshly made beer cheese sauce and some bacon to make a real crowd-pleaser for supper.
A Polish sheet pan dinner is easy to make in short order, with fresh cabbage and onions, along with frozen pierogi and smoked sausage. It’s all topped off with a freshly made beer cheese sauce and some bacon to make a real crowd-pleaser for supper.

While watching random cooking shows over the years, I picked up the advice from several chefs that if you’re cooking with wine, you should choose a bottle you would actually want to drink, or it isn’t worth using in your recipe.

I have never heard the same advice for beer.

I have used some of the lowest quality, icky beers I’ve ever tasted in baking and cooking over the years, and it’s never seemed to mess up the recipe. In the end, the breadiness of the beer remains, and whatever bitter nonsense that was there before seems to evaporate.

That was the case for this week’s recipe, as well, as I used a cheap domestic lager to create some darn good beer cheese sauce.

The recipe I tried comes from the Instagram account “foodcreationsforyou” by Ryan Pauly. You can look him up there; he has a ton of recipes. I added lots of extra seasonings and also an onion into my version below.

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Polish Sheet Pan Dinner

A Polish sheet pan dinner is easy to make in short order, with fresh cabbage and onions, along with frozen pierogi and smoked sausage. It’s all topped off with a freshly made beer cheese sauce and some bacon to make a real crowd-pleaser for supper.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Polish
Keyword 30-minute meal, bacon, basil, beer, beer cheese, cabbage, chicken broth, cream cheese, easy dinner, frozen pierogi, garlic powder, lager, onion, onion powder, oregano, parsley, pierogi, rope sausage, sharp cheddar cheese, smoked paprika, smoked sausage, yellow onion

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 small head cabbage chopped
  • 1 small yellow onion sliced
  • 14 ounces smoked sausage sliced into bite-sized pieces
  • 16- ounce package frozen pierogi
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Olive oil to coat ingredients

Beer Cheese Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup lager- or ale-style beer
  • 1/4 cup chicken broth
  • 4 ounces cream cheese cubed
  • 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese freshly shredded
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 slices bacon cooked and chopped, divided

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and prepare a large, rimmed baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
  • Dump the cabbage, onion, sausage, pierogi and spices onto the sheet, and drizzle olive oil over everything. Mix with a spoon or with your hands until the oil and spices are well distributed over all the ingredients.
  • Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until everything is cooked through and the pierogi are lightly browned.
  • While the sausage mixture cooks, add all of the beer cheese ingredients, except for the bacon, into a small pot and heat over medium heat, stirring regularly until the cheese mixture is melted and well combined. If you want a looser sauce, add a bit more chicken stock to the mixture.
  • Add in two of the chopped slices of bacon and remove it from the heat or set it to low.
  • For serving, scoop the sausage mixture into a bowl and top it with the beer cheese and more bacon.

This was a great dinner for a cooler evening, and the leftovers reheated well, too. There was also a decent amount of the cheese left over that we used up with other meals. It would be amazing with a freshly baked soft pretzel.

The meal itself had a great combination of flavors, from the smoked sausage to the roasted cabbage and onions and the pierogi. The beer cheese and bacon on top were excellent, and I was glad to once again prove that you can buy some pretty cheap, awful beer and end up with an excellent, delicious meal.

This piece first appeared in print Nov. 6, 2025.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Air Fryer Appetizer Main Dish Side Dish

Wrap up your dinner plans with crispy lumpia

Lumpia is a Filipino dish that can be made by either deep frying or air frying. They’re full of ground pork, cabbage and spices.
Lumpia is a Filipino dish that can be made by either deep frying or air frying. They’re full of ground pork, cabbage and spices.

There are many times when I silently curse my past self for inconveniencing me in the present.

I’ll fail to put something away correctly or decide I’ll totally remember we’re out of something rather than putting it on the shopping list, etc.

But the past couple of weeks, I have been pretty proud of past me for making my life slightly easier.

About a month ago, I found myself with several inches of leftover fresh ginger, and rather than letting them go to waste in the refrigerator, I peeled them (something I really don’t like doing) and put them in the freezer.

Now, when I just need an inch, I have pre-peeled ginger at the ready. I’ll be sad when I use it all up, but in the meantime, it definitely came in handy with this week’s recipe, which turned out really well.

This comes from cookbook author Rasa Malaysia on her website. You can see her original post at https://rasamalaysia.com/lumpia-filipino-spring-rolls-recipe/. I added extra garlic and cabbage in my version.

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Lumpia

Lumpia is a Filipino dish that can be made by either deep frying or air frying. They’re full of ground pork, cabbage and spices.
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Filipino
Keyword air fryer, cabbage, chicken bouillon, deep fried, egg roll wrapper, eggs, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, ground pork, lumpia, minced garlic, soy sauce, spring roll wrappers

Ingredients

  • 1 package lumpia egg roll or fry-able spring roll wrappers
  • 2 pounds ground pork I used a pork/beef combo
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 inch ginger minced
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 crushed chicken bouillon cube or 1/2 teaspoon bouillon powder
  • 2 eggs
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 6 to 10 ounces green cabbage shredded
  • cooking oil if deep frying or cooking spray (if air frying)

Instructions

  • If your wrappers are square, cut the stack down the middle so that you have two stacks of rectangular wrappers to use. (It’s a good idea to keep these under a damp paper towel while you work so they don’t dry out.)
  • In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, bouillon, eggs, salt and pepper, and cabbage, and mix well to combine.
  • Fill a small bowl with some water, and lay one of the rectangular wrappers in front of you, with one of the short sides facing you.
  • Using your fingers, dipped in the bowl of water, wet the last half-inch or so of the short end furthest from you. Add a couple tablespoons of the mixture at one end of the wrapper, and then roll it tightly, careful not to let the filling squeeze out the sides, until it’s completely rolled up, pressing lightly to seal the wrapper. Set it aside.
  • Repeat until all the filling and/or wrappers are used.
  • If you’re deep frying the lumpia, heat about one-half inch of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry them, a few at a time, turning them to get them golden brown on all sides, and then transfer them with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel lined plate. (You may want to temp them to make sure they are at a safe internal temperature, too.)
  • If you’re air frying them, preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees, lightly spray your lumpia with cooking spray and air fry for about nine to 12 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meat is 160 degrees.
  • Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce.

Joey mixed up a spicy, mustard-based sauce for us to eat these with. Honestly, these would be a great side dish for an Asian meal, but we just ate them as our main dish.

They were lightly flavored, which made them an especially good vessel for a nice sauce, but they were also crispy and very tasty.

And I didn’t even have to peel any ginger to make this particular dinner work. If only past me hadn’t decided to put off doing the dishes until the next day, too, her planning would have been perfect.

This piece first appeared in print June 19, 2025.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Soup

With fall ‘fest’ approaching, it’s time for some stew recipes

Oktoberfest stew includes all the flavors of the traditional celebration, from beer and sausage to cabbage and potatoes. Paired with a thick, crusty slice of bread, it makes for a cozy, warming dinner.
Oktoberfest stew includes all the flavors of the traditional celebration, from beer and sausage to cabbage and potatoes. Paired with a thick, crusty slice of bread, it makes for a cozy, warming dinner.

I’m constantly amazed at how quickly we transition from pasta salad to thick, warming stew weather in Kansas.

I can always tell when other parts of the country are starting to move into whatever the next season is, because my Pinterest suggestions suddenly begin showcasing a totally new genre of food. Right now, with Canadian Thanksgiving behind us, temperatures starting to dip and Halloween on the horizon, my feed is punctuated by lots of soups, pies and spooky treats.

I was glad for that shift this week, when I decided it was time to make my first soup of the season: an Oktoberfest-inspired stew that did not disappoint in the least.

This comes from the blog “The Cozy Apron” by Ingrid Beer. You can find her post at https://thecozyapron.com/oktoberfest-stew/. I swapped out the sausage and added extra garlic in my version below. I also doubled what is listed below, and that gave us plenty of leftovers to store in the freezer, too.

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Oktoberfest Stew

Oktoberfest stew includes all the flavors of the traditional celebration, from beer and sausage to cabbage and potatoes. Paired with a thick, crusty slice of bread, it makes for a cozy, warming dinner.
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine German
Keyword beer, beer brats, bratwurst, cabbage, caramelized onions, caraway seeds, dunkel, fresh garlic, garlic, German stew, lager, marzen, minced garlic, Octoberfest meal, Oktoberfest meal, onion, parsley, potatoes, Russet potato

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion sliced thinly (I used white)
  • 16 to 19 ounces beer brats cut into half-inch rounds
  • 1/2 head cabbage thinly sliced or 10 ounces coleslaw cabbage
  • 1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds ground or whole
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 cup Oktoberfest style lager like a marzen or a dunkel
  • 2 large Russet potatoes cut into one-inch pieces
  • 2 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley

Instructions

  • Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven with a lid over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion, and saute until it is soft and starting to caramelize.
  • Add the sausage, and saute until there is no pink left (no worries about internal temperature, it’s going to get plenty of cook time).
  • Stir in the cabbage, letting it cook until it’s wilted down and starting to lightly brown.
  • Add in the caraway seed, salt, pepper, and the garlic, letting the garlic saute for a few minutes, or just until it starts to smell nice.
  • Add in the lager and stir, letting the mixture marry for about five minutes to let the beer reduce just a smidgeon.
  • Add the potatoes and stock, and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring regularly. Once the stew is boiling, turn the heat to low, and place the lid slightly askew on the pot, letting it cook for 40 minutes. Stir occasionally while it simmers.
  • When it’s done, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the apple cider vinegar and dried parsley. Serve alongside a slice of crusty bread.

This stew was delicious. The flavor combinations were out of this world, with the starchiness of the potatoes, the maltiness from the lager and the slight sweetness of the cabbage all complimenting the sausage. I baked a loaf of beer bread to go with our stew, and it paired beautifully.

And with the temperatures dipping just enough to let us turn off our air conditioner and open our windows, we enjoyed a great meal.

I can’t wait to savor this season of recipes for the next few weeks, at least until somebody somewhere starts posting about Christmas.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 17, 2024.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

You have to try this delicious ‘mein’ dish tonight

Chicken lo mein is a delicious dinner with tons of flavor and plenty of fresh, sauteed vegetables over yummy Asian noodles.
Chicken lo mein is a delicious dinner with tons of flavor and plenty of fresh, sauteed vegetables over yummy Asian noodles.

An article from “Eat This, Not That” by Cheyenne Buckingham breaks down all the differences between Italian and Asian noodles.

I started wondering a bit this week, after I bought a package of lo mein noodles and the finished product really didn’t look a whole lot different from spaghetti, so of course, I had to do a deep dive on the subject.

There is a difference, it turns out. Buckingham interviewed Chef Chris Barch, who said ingredients are the main variation.

“For example, soba uses buckwheat, lo mein uses eggs, rice noodles use rice,” he said. “Italian pasta essentially has two main pasta doughs: egg dough and non-egg dough.”

So, yeah, you totally could use spaghetti instead of lo mein noodles, but you’re probably not going to get the full flavor and texture you’re looking for. So even if they’re a little tougher to find, when you try this week’s recipe, I highly recommend traditional Asian noodles.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “Dinner then Dessert” by Sabrina Snyder. You can find the original post at https://dinnerthendessert.com/chicken-lo-mein/. I added extra garlic in my version and left out the bean sprouts.

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Chicken Lo Mein

Chicken lo mein is a delicious dinner with tons of flavor and plenty of fresh, sauteed vegetables over yummy Asian noodles.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Keyword cabbage, carrots, chicken, Chinese takeout, fresh ginger, garlic, green onions, lo mein, red bell pepper, sesame oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce

Ingredients

  • 10 ounces lo mein noodles
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil divided
  • 2 large chicken breasts cut into thin strips
  • 1 red bell pepper cut into thin strips
  • 1 large carrot cut into thin strips
  • 1/2 cup green onions thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce or fish sauce
  • 1/2 cup cabbage shredded
  • sesame seeds and/or green onions for garnish

Instructions

  • Cook the noodles according to the package instructions; drain them and toss them with the sesame oil. Set aside.
  • In a large skillet, heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
  • Saute the chicken in batches, cooking four or five minutes on each side until it is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan to a plate for now.
  • Add the pepper, carrot and green onion to the skillet and saute until they are cooked through to your liking.
  • Add the ginger and garlic to the vegetables. Saute for one to two minutes or until the garlic is very lightly browned.
  • In a small bowl, mix 3/4 cup water, soy sauce, cornstarch, one tablespoon vegetable oil and oyster sauce, and then pour it into the skillet. Also add the cabbage. Let it cook for just a couple minutes, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and the cabbage wilts.
  • Add the chicken and noodles back to the pan, and stir to coat everything in the sauce. Turn the heat to medium-low. Once everything is heated back through, serve, topped with sesame seeds and freshly sliced green onions, if you like.

On her blog, Snyder notes that this is a lot like takeout Chinese food, and I have to agree. It was a fabulous dinner, and then it heated up for leftovers about as well as normal Chinese restaurant leftovers do. We served ours with some fried rice (Joey accused me of stacking carbs), and it made for a great dinner.

When you do this, make sure to thinly cut your vegetables and really try to get a consistent thickness on your slices. That will help everything cook quickly and evenly.

And don’t forget to get the right noodles for the job. Spaghetti is great in a lot of applications, but in this case, lo mein is a must.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 18, 2024.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Side Dish

Egg rolls in a bowl will get you ‘egg-cited’

To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.
To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.

When we were kids, my sister and I often had conflicts over our favorite places to eat. Any time I was in the mood to visit the Chinese buffet, she balked, claiming she hated Chinese food.

If my parents were kind enough to push the issue and decide to go anyway, she always seemed to find plenty to eat, but it was still a struggle to convince her every time.

It was a few years ago that she mentioned going to eat Chinese food with her husband, and I was shocked to learn that she now has a taste for it.

I tried to convince her she owes me compensation, but she seems to think that her acts of denying me Chinese food all those years isn’t that big of a deal. I guess some childhood feuds never end.

Now that I can get Chinese food whenever the mood strikes, I’m a huge fan of egg rolls. There’s something about the seasoned meat combined with some slightly crunchy cabbage that always seems perfect.

Of course, the fried outer shell is less than perfect as far as calorie consumption is concerned, which is why I was very interested in trying a recipe that keeps all the goodies from the inside but gets rid of the egg roll wrapper completely.

The recipe I tried is from the blog “Mostly Homemade Mom.” You can find her post at https://www.mostlyhomemademom.com/eggroll-in-bowl/. I increased the amount of garlic and ginger and added pepper.

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Egg Roll in a Bowl

To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword cabbage, egg roll, sausage

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground sausage
  • 8 to 10 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • ground pepper to taste
  • 1 bag dry coleslaw mix
  • one bunch green onion sliced

Instructions

  • In a large skillet, brown and drain the sausage over medium heat, crumbling it as it cooks.
  • While the sausage cooks, combine the garlic, ginger, soy sauce and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
  • Add the cabbage/carrot mix and stir it to combine it with the sausage.
  • Dump the sauce mixture over the top of the sausage and cabbage and stir. Let the mixture heat through for about five minutes. The cabbage will still be pretty crunchy. If you’d rather have it softer, place a lid on the pan and check it every five minutes until it reaches the level of wilted you’d like.
  • Top with the sliced green onions and serve.

I really liked this recipe. The increase in ginger and the addition of pepper did kick up the spice level just a tiny bit, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you might back those off.

Also, while this did reheat fairly well as leftovers, it left quite a bit of juice in the bottom of the storage container, which let the cabbage get soggy quickly, so I wouldn’t leave it in the refrigerator for too many days before finishing it off.

Eating an egg roll in a bowl wasn’t as good as the real thing (I mean, when you take away the fried dough part, how could it be?), but it satisfied a craving, and it was easy to make, which I appreciated.

My younger self would have been glad to see that I was getting to enjoy one of my favorite things. I think I’ll take this dish to a family potluck, just to see if my sister enjoys it, too. I’ll try not to take it personally if she doesn’t like it—and especially if she does.

This piece first appeared in print on May 2, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Salad Side Dish

Sometimes even salad can be comfort food

Oriental salad uses cabbage and ramen to create a great, crunchy side dish.
Oriental salad uses cabbage and ramen to create a great, crunchy side dish.

When I close my eyes and picture my grandpa, I see his mischievous smile—one that went clear up to his eyes—and I can hear his laugh. I see his large hands, calloused from years of hard work, which were always willing to help anyone who needed him. And I’ll never see a pair of suspenders, stretched over a plaid shirt, without thinking of him, too.

We lost my grandfather, Bill Franklin, this past week. He was the epitome of a Kansas farmer, constantly working and fixing, even long after he “retired” from planting grain and milking cows.

He was an imposing figure at over 6 feet tall with a wide frame, and he was strong beyond his 83 years. No one would ever mistake Grandpa for a frail old man.

But he was also gentle and kind. He could create some of the most delicate woodworking I’ve ever seen and was always quick to scoop up a great grand-baby.

And although he probably would have argued with me, he was a life-long learner, too, mastering new technology and doing tons of research on his family tree.

What I admired him for most of all, though, was the love he showed my grandma. They knew each other for practically their entire lives, and they never got tired of each other. He loved to tease her, and she loved to pretend she was shocked by whatever it was he said. They walked hand-in-hand wherever they went, and the look he gave her in their wedding photos was the same one he gave her over 60 years later.

He also liked to eat, and while he had a lot of favorites, the one dish that pops into my head is a salad my mom and I took turns bringing to family meals just because we knew he loved it, so in honor of him, I’m sharing that recipe with you. I don’t have an original source for it. It’s one of those recipes that gets passed around families and loses its origin.

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Oriental Salad

Oriental salad uses cabbage and ramen to create a great, crunchy side dish.
Course Salad, Side Dish
Keyword ramen, red cabbage, sunflower seeds

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces shredded cabbage I buy the bagged coleslaw mix with carrots
  • 1 bunch green onion chopped
  • 1 package ramen noodles I use beef flavored
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup oil I use canola
  • Flavor packet from the ramen
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar I use apple cider
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  • In a large salad bowl, combine the cabbage and onions.
  • Place the uncooked noodles into a small plastic zippered bag. Zip the bag and crush the noodles (I normally use the handle of a kitchen knife, but a rolling pin or the smooth side of a meat mallet would also work well.). Break them up into about 1/2-inch pieces. Dump the sunflower seeds into the bag and set it aside.
  • In another small bowl, combine the oil, flavor packet, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper.
  • Just before serving the salad, pour the noodles, sunflower seeds and oil mixture over top of the cabbage and mix well.
  • Refrigerate any leftovers.

As we gathered this week to share stories of Grandpa in the days leading to his funeral, this salad graced the table with tons of other food from the wonderful people in our family’s life. Grandma’s fridge won’t be empty for quite awhile.

And while the love we all have for each other will keep us going, there will continue to be a piece missing from our get-togethers.

The hole a man like my grandpa leaves is large and a tough one to fill.

This piece first appeared in print on March 28, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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