Slice up a cabbage and place on a roasting pan for a sensational vegetarian meal +5 recipes

For most of my life, I thought cabbage only had two purposes: coleslaw and soup. Those are the only two ways I had ever had it prepared growing up: raw and crunchy or softly simmered. It wasn't until I encountered the recipes below that my worldview changed forever.

Check out these vegetarian cabbage recipes and see if it changes your perspective on this versatile ingredient as well.

1. Cabbage rolls
If you've never had cabbage rolls, don't knock them until you try them. They might sound a little bit bizarre, but they're so delicious. They're a staple in Russian and Middle Eastern cooking for a good reason. Many people prepare cabbage rolls with meat, but it works very well as a vegetarian dish. 2. Garlic-roasted cabbage wedges
Roasted cabbage? What a bizarre concept. I wondered what it would taste like as I prepared it as new and exciting vegetable side dish for a dinner party. It was not only my favorite dish of the night but all of my friends' favorite, too.3. Spicy cabbage soup
When I was in college, a friend of mine told me about this amazing cabbage soup diet. You made a large pot of cabbage soup at the beginning of the week and you could eat as much of it as you wanted all week long. It sounded too good to be true, but I gave it a whirl anyway. By the end of the week I was totally sick of cabbage soup but I couldn't deny that the low-calorie dish did fill me up and keep me from overeating. The recipe below is a spicier version of that soup.4. Cabbage stir fry
When you think of cabbage, what comes to mind? Most people probably think about coleslaw, but I always think about my grandmother’s noodles and cabbage. It was a simple dish – literally just noodles and cabbage – that put dinner on the table during lean times. Over the years, I modified her basic version to become the recipe below. It's filled with heart-healthy vegetables, and I swapped in zoodles (spiralized zucchini) for the pasta noodles.5. Cabbage salad
Cabbage is a delicious and hearty base for any salad, and the recipe below is no different. In it, several varieties of cabbage unite with a slightly sweet dressing to make a colorful salad for a picnic or barbecue. The best part? It keeps very well.