By Stuffed Cabbage
Stuffed Cabbage definitely sounds like something Bree would make. It took longer to prepare than I had expected, but the end result was delicious! At least it was for me…turns out my husband does not like cooked cabbage. Well now we know.
I started with prepping the cabbage. Give yourself more time than you think you need for this step! Each leaf is first cut at the cabbage’s base and then carefully peeled off. This is not easy! It took me a really long time to get 9 leaves (recipe called for 12) before I figured “screw it, there’s only two of us anyway” and moved on. The leaves are then put in a boiling pot of water and left to boil for a few minutes before draining, cooling, and cutting off the lower third of the leaf (the thick part).
The sauce is next – the sauce ingredients are simply combined in a small saucepan and simmered for 10 minutes. While that’s simmering, the filling is prepared by just mixing all the filling ingredients together by hand – meat, rice, veggies, spices…
Now it’s time to stuff those leaves! About 1/3 cup (give or take) of mix is added to each leave, rolled, and then the edges are tucked underneath. This part was actually easier than I expected, although you’ll no doubt have to work around some rips in the leaves which adds a difficulty factor.
Some sauce is poured into the bottom of a baking dish, the stuffed leaves go in next, and then the remaining sauce is poured over top of the entire dish. It’s wrapped tightly in aluminum foil and cooked for an hour, before removing the aluminum foil and cooking for another 30 minutes.
Taste: 9/10
Despite the somewhat unappetizing appearance, I actually really loved these! I did think the sauce was a bit too runny, though. Maybe I should have cooked it a bit longer.
Difficulty: Average
The most challenging part is removing the cabbage leaves without ripping them, and the second was stuffing the leaves when they had holes in them. For that I overlapped the cabbage leaves a little bit to cover the hole, which made it easier to wrap them but the holes still did show up in the end result.
Cost: Average
Despite the numerous ingredients, there’s nothing that’s too expensive here. You’ll need cabbage, condensed tomato soup, beef broth, brown sugar, white wine vinegar, ground beef, long grain rice, onion, carrot, and thyme.
Buttery Baked Tomatoes
These were quick and easy to make!
Slice the tomatoes in half, and remove the insides. Over the stove (I chose to do this in a microwave because it was easier), melt the butter. Then add bread crumbs and thyme to the butter, mix, and put inside the tomato halves. They bake in the oven for close to 30 minutes.
Though the recipe says you can eat the tomatoes hot, they recommend room temperature so we waited until the cabbage rolls were done before digging in.
Taste: 9/10
These were delicious as well, especially for cooked tomatoes! I actually debated about whether or not to give these a 10 for a little while.
Difficulty: Easy
This recipe couldn’t be easier to make.
Cost: Cheap
You’ll need Roma tomatoes, butter, bread crumbs, and thyme. That’s it!
This Geek Loves Food 