I STILL haven't gone grocery shopping since before Thanksgiving. Do you believe it? I just haven't had the time and frankly, I don't want to spend the money. Between traveling this weekend and Christmas shopping I'm spent in both the time and money department. Ahhhh gotta love the Holidays! note: Actually I DO love the holidays.. I'm just whining. 🙂
Anyway, I knew yesterday was going to be a busy day so I decided to pull out the old crockpot. I stumbled across this recipe for Crockpot Cabbage and Sausage and it's simplicity intrigued me. I happen to have a head of cabbage leftover from the farm (is it me or does cabbage have a long shelf life?) a package of frozen turkey sausage in in the freezer and a few of those awesome potatoes I reviewed the other day.
I threw everything in the slow cooker and crossed my fingers! Anytime husband or child would ask what I was making I'd simply say, "sausage". I've learned not to go into the details with them. Simply present the meal in the most basic terms and you get no faces or arguments.
I set the plates out at dinner with surprisingly little discussion. Little Man simply asked, "where are the sausage?" Once I pointed them out, he went to town. The husband didn't say a word. Not ONE. He just started eating. I think I was in shock. At one point Little Man asked what the other "stuff" was and I said cabbage. Before I could say anything else the husband, yes MY husband, the one who could eat mac & cheese every night for dinner says, "Oh Try it Ryan, the cabbage is delicious!"
I'm speechless.
Little Man tried it but decided he didn't like it. So he stuck with the sausage and potatoes. 
The husband ate his whole plate. His only feedback.... "it was a little salty."
I'll take it. 🙂
- 1 medium onion chopped
- Enough potatoes to cover the bottom of the crock. I used the small ones, it was about 600g worth.
- 1 20oz package of raw italian turkey sausage preferably still frozen (easier to cut) - we used sweet
- 1 large head of cabbage cut into about 6 wedges with core removed
- Kosher Salt
- ¼ cup of water
Layer everything in the slow cooker. Start with the onion and potatoes. If you have larger potoatoes, cut them in halves or quarters.
Top with the cut sausage. I pull my sausage right out of the fridge and pop in the microwave for 1 minute to soften them just enough for cutting. Makes my life a whole bunch easier. Put the frozen cut sausage in the pot...
Top wedges of cabbage. Apparently I salted too much but I still think a bit of kosher salt is needed. Maybe even some fresh ground pepper.
Pour ¼ cup of water over everything (or broth) just to get the steam started. This isn't really a stew (although you could turn it into one) more of just a simple way to have dinner ready on a busy day.
My family isn't into stews as much as I am. If it were up to me I would have cut the cabbage in cubes and added a can of broth and diced tomatoes for a more soupy/stewy dinner. Either way, it works.
I cooked mine on low for 7 hours. The potatoes were soft and creamy, the sausage cooked through and the cabbage was done without being mushy. If you like a softer cabbage simply cut your wedges in half. Smaller the cabbage pieced the faster it will cook.
Serving size on this one is tough for me. According the potatoes I had about 4, sausage 6 and I don't measure things like cabbage. We had 3 large bowls last night and I have at least 2 servings leftover in the fridge so I'm going to put it at 5 nice size servings, it's just too hard to measure by the cup.
| Servings | Amt per Serving | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | ⅕ of the recipe | |||
| Calories | Fat | Fiber | WWPs | |
| 320 | 10g | 9g | old: 7 | new: 8 |
| Sugar | Sat Fat | Carbs | Protein | |
| 10g | 4g | 38g | 24g | |
I read the people's comments after I posted my comment. I think ALL of the people who posted the comments are neat. I wish they lived close to me so we could "hang" out (like Brian in the Tostitos commercial T-BO). Everybody could bring a small bowl of their crock pot recipe, I could get an 18 pk of Coors Lite ($11.99) and I have an enclosed patio of 450 sq ft with TV and NFL games. We live in Arizona and we are in the #1 safest area in AZ. Kick off time is 1:05 Seattle vs Minn (Vikes = brrr - cold), then Skins vs GB. Are you in????
I LOVE to crock pot. I could probably crock pot twice a week. My wife likes everything I make, but she is not into crock pot. She is a great cook. I was just thinking about making Hillshire Kielbasa sausage, diced potatoes, Hurst's ham beens (no soaking necessary), diced tomatoes with spices (59 cents Food Club {buy lots at this price}, and carrots and anything else I find. THEN, you mentioned cabbage so I think I will get a head and throw that in tomorrow. Its so funny, because when you can't find anything to eat, the crock pot bowels in the fridge get warmed up, AND with a piece of bread NO ONE complains! My darling wife is going to make chili (with a can of S&W chili beans, which have pinto beans,chili peppers,onion & garlic in a zesty tomato sauce (GET THESE) because two more NFL playoff games today! I don't care because Kansas City won yesterday - YES!!! So this is my story and I'm stickin to it.
I am so sorry that there are hungry people in the U.S. because if they stopped by I would gladly offer them a crock pot meal, buy them a crock pot, and when I shop I can get LOTS of food cheap. I am so thankful I was born in America and thank the Good Lord EVERYDAY!!!!
I've made something similar to this for close to 20 years. I use a whole cabbage and red potatoes cut in half and add about a cup of water let them cook for 3 hours on low then add fresh green beans and cut up my sausage then I add some garlic powder pepper and a table spoon of beef boulion paste mix well and cook for 3 more hours on low till potatoes are tender. I have a son thats a huge picky eater and I caught him eating a second helper and I knew then I had him hooked
This recipe is great. I added 8 cloves of whole (not crushed) garlic, and it turned out superbly. I used regular pig sausage, not turkey, and it wasn't overcooked at all.
Enjoyed the cabbage! But, I have to say that we should have put the sausage in at about 4 hours instead of all day so it wasn't so mushy. All in all though, enjoyed it!
Rebecca
I made this yesterday and it was delish! I added a can of white beans and some caraway seed. There were no leftovers! Love all your recipes! Thank you!
Jeri - How bad is this.. I don't KNOW! It's pretty big. I'd say 4 quarts!?!?
The great thing about recipes like this though, is that you can just put in what fits for you and hubby. Line the bottom with potatoes and onion, top with 2 servings of sausage and the cabbage. Don't even worry about measuring anything out. These crockpot ideas are totally fluid to fit your style.
I'm loving my slow cooker this time of year. I have some turkey sausage, red potatoes and red cabbage just waiting to give this a try!
I made this - it was so yummy! I even went back for more cabbage.
I used fully cooked, lean turkey sausage, and I think next time, I would add it much later in the cooking process. I had cooked it for 8 hours, and the sausage just tasted overdone. Not your fault, of course, but I thought I would mention it just in case someone else makes the same substitution I did.
Hi Roni,
Looks delicious. Could you please tell me what size crock pot do you use?? I'm new to crock pot cooking & I think my crock pot is too small for most receipes. I'd like to buy a new one, but I don't want to buy one to big or to small. I'm just cooking for myself & my husband.
THANKS!!
Growing up, this was called Bubbles and Squeak. My daughter loves this. It is one of her favorite meals. I have to use vegetarian sausage and usually make it on the stove. To make in the crockpot I would probably have to add the sausage later in the cooking process. Yum!
It's in the crockpot now! 🙂 Thanks for the great idea for my cabbage in my fridge.
Oh MAN! I hope I have some sausage, lurking in the freezer! (dashes to basement to dig in freezer...) Nuts! No such luck! Adding it to the list. Any way to incorporate more cabbage into my life is WELCOME! (try roasting it! I drizzle olive oil, spinkle salt and wrap it in foil to toss on the grill. The browner the better!)
Mmmm sounds good. I have some lamb basil sausage that would work.
BTW, I made some potato salad with the tricolor potatoes-big hit.
http://eatlittleeatbig.blogspot.com/2010/11/recipe-for-sunset-potato-salad.html
Next time you make this, add a couple wedged apples to the mix. Or apples and white beans and you've got a classic Dutch dish: "five kinds"...
That looks good. It even sounds like something the Boyfriend might enjoy.