Happy Green Day!

My Slovenian grandmother, dad, and mom!

Artichokes, leeks, cabbage...my frig looks really green this week!  Many people will be eating cabbage tonight for many different reasons and it may be the only time they eat it unless they have it in coleslaw.  I just finished making unstuffed cabbage rolls in homage to my Slovenia heritage.
Most of my life I was under the delusion of being an Irish American. In my late twenties I uncovered our hidden Slovenia history.

It turned out to be why my dad's favorite meal was halukis, a version of stuffed cabbage rolls made with sauerkraut not tomatoes. It explained why sometimes I would come home and my dad would have a pot of cabbage and tomatoes stewing on the stove.

Tonight I could have made what my mom called a New England boiled dinner with corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes in honor of my Irish American heritage.  Then corned beef hash, my mom's favorite leftover would appear as another meal later in the week. I think, however, the cabbage on my stove serves as a tribute to both those cultures--Irish and Slovenian.   My friend with Polish roots will appreciate the whatever reason I made it when I bring her lunch tomorrow.

I was inspired by a recipe on Pinterest that I repurposed to have the flavors found in my grandmother's recipe and the bounty of green at the Clemon's this weekend.  I left out the rice for a more carb-friendly aka T1 friendly meal. I can't really post the recipe because there isn't one.  It is quite simply ground pork, onions, sauerkraut, cabbage, a little vegetable broth, salt, pepper, and caraway seeds.  Just items that I had in the frig and the pantry.  Dinner still had the comforting goodness of a meal once shared by the hands of the past and made by the hands in the present. My next task will to figure out what to do with an artichoke!