Recipe: Cabbage - a traditional Irish vegetable

I love vegetables, and so I am glad, that most of the veggies have 0 points, wich make them a great and filling  side dish, for meat and potatoes.

Today, I want to show you a simple, yet delicious recipe with cabbage. A typical Irish vegetable that I would serve with potatoes and ham (so we had this dish the last week and it was 10 Points)

Cabbage:

You will need:
1 head of green cabbage
water
vegetable stock cube
salt, pepper corns, chili powder
1 onion
bayleaves

Half the cabbage, remove the hard core and peel the leaves of the cabbage. Cut larger ones into smaller pieces. 
Peel an onion and slice it in quarters.
Put the cabbage, vegetable stock cube, onion, bay leaves, pepper corns, salt & chili powder into a large sauce pan, cover it with water and bring it to a boil

Turn down the heat and let the cabbage simmer for about 20 minutes. 

Drain the cabbage, remove the bay leaves & onions, put the cabbage back in the pan and shred it with the help of a large knife.

Have your cabbage with the food you want:

Zero-Points Vegetable Soup with Butternut Squash, Carrots, Leek & Peppers

I would say, that I am kind of addicted to soup. I love to eat a bowl just for lunch or as a starter for dinner. At any time of the year, you would be surprised how many combinations there are for cold soups, perfect and refreshing for a hot summer day.

There are so many vegetables you could combine and the taste of fresh products is always amazing.

As soups are kind of filling, they're always making a zero ProPoints alternative if you want to spend your points on something else.

Today, I have a recipe with butternut squash, leek, carrots and red and yellow peppers:

This will make a large batch of soup, would say, at least 8-10 large bowls of soup, you could just let it cool down and pour them into individual containers to put them in the freezer.

You will need: 

2 peppers, I used one in red and yellow, each

5-6 carrots

1 butternut squash

1 leek

2 small or 1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 vegetable stock cube

about 1,5 litres of water (+additional 500-750ml to add after/while blending)

salt & pepper, pinch of chiliflakes

no-calorie cooking spray

1. Peel the carrots, deseed and peel the squash. Cut all the vegetables in large junks. 

Half the onions and chop them in rings and the garlic in fine dices.

2. Turn on the heat of your hob, mist a large pan with the cookingspray and saute the onion and garlic until light brown. Then put in the vegetables and the 1,5 litres of water cover with a lit and bring to a boil.

3. Let the soup cook for about 20 minutes on high heat, till the veg is soft. Turn of the heat and use a hand blender or a conventional blender to create a smoth consistency. If you like it junky just blend about half of the soup.

4. Use the aditional water, if necessary, if you like your soup  more runny.

5. Serve in large bowls as a starter for your dinner or as part of your lunch with a sandwich, made with calorie controlled bread, low fat, wafer thin chicken, a sclice of half fat cheddar, leaves of lettuce & slices of cucumber