Cabbage Rolls

Although I've been cooking since college, I'm not familiar with many cabbage recipes. Cabbage rolls or cabbage with ground beef and bell peppers are typically my go-tos to use a head of cabbage up. Don't get me wrong - it's nice that cabbage is cheap and provides a lot of food, but I struggle with ideas for it sometimes. If you have any cabbage ideas, please let me know in the comments! I would love some new ideas to try.

This recipe is nice because it uses a lot of cabbage and it's nutritious. However, there are many steps involved and it will take a while to get everything ready. This particular recipe makes about 18 rolls, or however many you can fit in your pan! Some good sides for cabbage rolls are mashed potatoes, green beans, roasted potatoes, corn, rolls, or garlic bread.

Ingredients:

• Cabbage leaves (about a full head)

• 3/4 cup long grain rice, uncooked

• 1 (14.5 oz) can beef (can be substituted with cooked ground beef)

• 2 small yellow onions, diced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 3 Tb. parsley

• Salt and pepper

• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes in juice

• 1 egg

• About 1 and 1/2 cups tomato sauce

• 1 (10.75 oz) can condensed tomato soup

Instructions:

Boil the cabbage leaves in a covered pot (press down tightly to fit) until they are soft and pliable. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook rice just shy of package directions so it's a little underdone. Set aside.

Simmer onions and garlic in a pan until onion is almost cooked through. Add in beef, diced tomatoes, and seasonings. Let simmer for 5 - 10 minutes. Add in rice, 1/3 cup of the tomato sauce, and egg. Stir well.

Mix the remaining tomato sauce and tomato soup together. Pour a thin layer of this mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Remove or cut down any thick stem on cabbage leaves. Place roughly 1/3 cup filling in the middle of each cabbage leaf and roll up. If you have partial leaves, you can stack them until you have enough for a roll. Place each roll seam side down in the pan. Repeat until the pan is filled.

Pour remaining sauce over the cabbage rolls and cover with foil. Bake for 60 - 75 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.