Sweet & Sour Cabbage

I have been keeping a secret from you this past month. I bought a slow cooker and have secretly been trying slow cooker recipes. Now, before you feel like I have been holding on out you, I have to tell you that everything I have made in the slow cooker thus far has been, well, let's just say weird. I think I have a slow cooker curse actually.

Everything that goes in there seems to come out funky. I was super excited at first because I thought it would be a great way to make soup without me having to be home and standing over the pot. However, every soup I've made doesn't taste as good as it does on the stove. So then I tried to make beans because I figured beans couldn't go wrong. At the present moment I am still working on perfecting the art of slow cooker beans without much success. Not exactly appetizing, huh? And this is why the slow cooker has been a secret until now.

The fact that I am finally revealing this recipe to you means it must actually be decent, and hopefully, good! I found this in Liana Krissoff's Secrets of Slow Cooking: Creating Extraordinary Food with Your Slow Cooker. Her recipe called for 1/2 cup of brown sugar, but I couldn't justify this to myself so I went with a tablespoon of agave syrup. With the apples and agave, I thought it was perfectly sweet, but you can always add in the brown sugar or an extra drizzle of agave. This is tasty as a side dish, but my favorite use for it is in sandwiches & wraps.



Serves 4 to 6
6 quart slow cooker

1 c cider vinegar
1 Tbs agave syrup (add more to taste)
salt & pepper
1 large head red cabbage
2 red apples

In slow cooker, combine vinegar, agave, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 c water.

Peel off and discard the dried outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters, then cut out and discard the core. Slice the cabbage into 1/2-inch strips and add them to the cooker. Core the apples. Cut them into thin slices and add to the cooker. Toss to combine all the ingredients. Cook, covered, on the low setting for 5-6 hours, until the cabbage is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Gluten-free, soy-free