Cabbage and Apple Salad
a go-to food decision when you don’t want to make decisions
thing’s you’ll need: cabbage, apple, cranberries (or some other dried fruit or not), sunflower seeds (or whatever nut/seed or not), parmesan cheese (or other cheese or not), and whatever bottle of basic vinaigrette… or not.
incidentally gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan (with no parm or sub vegan parm)
Chapter 158
There have been many times in your life that you have, for whatever reason, resented the fact that you are supposed to eat. It’s not the actual eating, most of the time. Maybe it’s the fact that you have to think about yourself because maybe you are the only one who will. Maybe it’s the time it takes to look in the fridge, make a plan, execute the plan, and then take all that time just chewing. Maybe it’s that you manage so many various things that rely wholly on your labor, your emotional and intellectual resources, your fortitude, that you just don’t have any spoons left to consider how you are supposed to feed yourself.
Whatever the problem you tend to know that there is a problem. Sometimes you respond to said (or unsaid) problem with boxed mac and cheese or greasy drive-thru or whatever processed comfort food you stash in the back of your pantry for just such a day. For those other days, when you haven’t quite hit the canned ravioli level of fuck it, you keep a cabbage in your refrigerator.
Cabbage seems to last through all of your various emotional cycles, anywhere between 3 weeks and two months. Even if you are peeling back a few leaves or chopping off a corner, cabbage is one of those crisper items that seems immortal. This is why it’s always on the shopping list. It’s as reliable and stalwart as you are.
You’ve flirted with all the brassicas. Cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, and other greens) rarely let you down. Steam em, roast em, chop them up for salad. They are there for you, good for you, and easier to access than mental health services (not that they are very good at listening, so you should probably pursue therapy too).
If you google Apple Cabbage Vinegar, you will get “About 9,030,000 results” and you don’t argue with google (much). You are obviously not the first person to pair apples with cabbage and for good reason. The double crunch, the vaguely mustardy pepperiness of the cabbage with the tart and juicy spill of a good apple, and then a tongue slap of vinegar to wake it all up (sigh).
You aren’t even sure how this salad came together for the first time, but it’s fed you through poor times when fresh produce was a luxury, sad times when eating took active effort, and busy times when you just needed a lot of something premade so that you didn’t have to make any other decisions that day.
Cut off a wedge or whole hemisphere from your cabbage (red, green, napa, whatever) and cut it up however you find most forkable. Sometimes you enjoy the process of thinly slicing and other times you just chop it up in haphazard chunks. It’s fine. Cut your apples (usually granny smith or honey crisp) to match (chunks or sticks) and don’t bother peeling them because those skins are full of vitamins that you need.
Cut up as much of whichever as you have/want. Sometimes this ends up being an appley salad and sometimes it’s mostly cabbage. It’s good both ways and there’s no reason to think too hard about it because you don’t have much room to think about much other than not slicing your finger off in the process.
Sometimes you stop there and toss it with whatever dressing (usually Newman’s own Caesar or oil and vinegar, because it’s also been a stalwart friend of your refrigerator). Sometimes you just oil and vinegar it with some salt and call it dinner.
Since you have a few untouched spoons, grab that can of totally affordable, possibly shelf-stable, maybe 100% parmesan, salty cheese powder that will rarely let you down (or its vegan counterpart). Is it as good as freshly grated triangles of actual parm? No. Do you prefer it in this salad? Yes. Is it really anyone’s business but your own? Not even a little bit. Shake in a bunch. Toss. Shake in a little more. Toss with dressing.
Have another tiny spoon of effort left? Add some dried cranberries (delicious fruitcandy) for fun and top with sunflower seeds (or almonds or whatever) for protein.
It’s basic. It’s fast. It’s simple. It’s almost the very least you can do for yourself right now, but it’s also fucking delicious.
As always, thank you for subscribing!
If you’d like to support this work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, liking, sharing, forwarding, following on Instagram (@eatwellenough), or otherwise spreading the word about this project.
I keep going because you keep reading 💚 🍽 💚
Leave a comment or drop a line at eatwellenough@gmail.com