Nancy’s Meltdown Stuffed Cabbage

A great Meltdown recipe from Meltdowner Nancy Baldwin. 

She took a family favorite and made it Meltdown friendly. This is a great example of looking at what is POSSIBLE when thinknig about family favorites. She brought me a sample and I am giving this two enthusiastic thumbs UP! YUM!

-Trish

Ingredients:

1# (total) Ground turkey or bison

Peppers (1 each small) Green, yellow, red (optional) diced finely

Onion – 1 medium diced finely

Onion – 1 medium rough chopped

1/2c. Brown rice uncooked

EVOO

1 T. Paprika (add more if you want)

Garlic 2-4T minced (to taste)

2- 15oz cans no salt tomato sauce

1- 28 oz can diced tomatoes

2 c. water

1-2 heads cabbage

OPTIONAL: Chili Garlic Sauce 1-2T

Sauté:

Diced onions & peppers with EVOO and paprika in pan until tender. Add garlic last few minutes.

Mix together:

Meat(s) (or whatever meat substitute you use)

rice (uncooked)

the sautéed mixture from above

1 15 oz can of tomato sauce

Add the Chili Garlic Sauce here if you choose.

Put the cabbage in boiling water to loosen the leaves. Pull/cut the leaves off and trim some of the core

from the leaves so they're more pliable.

Wrap meat mixture (about an ice cream scoop heaping is the average size) in leaves like you're rolling

a burrito -- tuck in the sides as you roll and then tuck the end of the leaf under the tucked sides (or

something like that -- Grandma was a pro at this) or just use toothpicks to hold them together like we

novices do. (Or you can just layer all the ingredients for "unstuffed cabbage.")

Lay some cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pot/roaster.

Layer the cabbages in a big pot for the stove top or a roasting pan for the oven.

Cover with 1 can tomato sauce (you can use more tomato sauce too) and 2c. water (about a 2/1 ratio)

about 3/4 of the pot will be full. Cover with chopped raw cabbage and pour diced tomatoes with juice

over them. The juicer, the better.

Simmer on stove top or bake at 375 for 1 hour 20 minutes or more.

I prefer baking them in the oven -- there's less chance the cabbage on the bottom of the pan will burn.

Count how many cabbages you make. This is an important step.

Why? Because that's what Grandma Molly did! :))