Unrolled Cabbage Rolls

It's been a year since I've bought ground beef from the grocery store.

The reason isn't because of some fad diet or a beef shortage, it's because I've had about 30 lbs of ground beef in my freezer from the portion of cow my household bought about 1 year ago. The dish I am about to describe has used up the last of this delicious ground beef. I have never in my life tasted such flavorful ground beef. Just knowing too it's all beef, no fillers or pink slim, and from a cow that was raised and grazed in Wisconsin makes it all the better.

The last packet was used to make a cabbage roll skillet of sorts, I'm calling Unrolled Cabbage Rolls. I had leftover cabbage from coleslaw I made last week and was trying to come up with an idea of how to use it up. Having just got our NEW cow, and twice as much meat this time, I also wanted to use up that last ground beef packet. With these factors, it was obvious what had to be done.

But traditional cabbage rolls can be a bit of a pain to make and even eat. Considering I am a self proclaimed casserole/skillet/things that are other things queen, I figured, lets make this easier and just throw it all together in a pan. Brilliant! Easy! Fun!

Unrolled Cabbage Rolls

- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 small head of cabbage, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 10-15 fresh plum tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 cup - 1 1/2 cups tomato juice or V8
- 2 cups rice, cooked
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- turmeric, all spice, paprika, salt, pepper, Java rub to taste


Cook rice in a rice cooker or on the stove top. Brown ground beef in large skillet. Add onions, 1/2 the parsley and garlic and continue to brown until onions are translucent. Add seasonings to taste.

Add both canned and fresh tomatoes and 1/2 the tomato juice. Simmer uncovered for about 10-15 minutes until the fresh tomatoes are wilted.

 

Add the remainder of the parsley, cabbage and the rest of the tomato juice to skillet and continue to cook for about 10 minutes uncovered until cabbage is just cooked. Be careful not to overcook, you still want a little crunch to the cabbage. Add more seasoning to taste,

Combine with the cooked rice and that's it!

You can use all green cabbage, but I used red cabbage and green to make it look prettier. And because that's what I had left over. This also makes A LOT! Probably a good 8-10 servings. Gotta love leftovers.