Cabbage Rolls Recipe

Today I made one of my favorite childhood dinners.  I have so many memories of my Grandma making this.  We called it Cabbage Rolls.  And it's really simple with only a few ingredients, so I thought I would share it with you while it's simmering on the stove top.

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage

1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey (I use ground turkey)

1 cup of minute rice

salt and pepper

minced onion

1 can tomato sauce

Boil a large pot of water.  With a sharp knife carefully core the head of cabbage.  Once the pot is to a boil add the cabbage.  You could be smart and make sure the cabbage will fit into the pot of water before you boil it, or like me . . . you can splash boiling water all over your stove because you had too much water in the pot - either way it's your preference - lol.  Cover, remove from heat and let set 2-3 minutes.

Meantime, mix the ground meat, rice, salt and pepper, onion and half the can of tomato sauce in a large bowl. 

Now, back to the cabbage.  I remove the cabbage from the water and carefully peel off about 3 leaves.  When they don't come off easily, put it back in the hot water and wait 1-2 more minutes.  Then you can remove a few more leaves, continue until you have about 8 good leaves without rips.

Cut off a small portion at the bottom of the leaves where the cabbage is thick and hard.  Place about 1/3 cup of the meat mixture at the bottom of each leaf fold up once, fold sides in and continue to roll up to end of leaf, keeping the last part on the bottom to hold it shut.  I leave these on my cutting board as I'm working. 

Take any ripped leaves or a few extras off the head and rip them up into 2 inch pieces and layer them in the bottom of your pot (can be the same pot you boiled the cabbage in, emptied out).  I had helpers for ripping up the cabbage leaves while I was rolling up the cabbage rolls!

I add about a cup of water to the cabbage leaves in the bottom of the pot.  Then layer the cabbage rolls on top.  I also stuffed some green pepper.  Cut the tops off, remove the core and seeds and filled with the meat mixture.  Once it's all in, I drizzle the rest of the tomato sauce over the top.  Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.  Make sure the meat has cooked thoroughly before serving.  I like it with a dab of sour cream, but my hubby and children like them just like they are.

The yummy smell has reached me already!  And I still have about 25 minutes to go!

Enjoy!