Cabbage Roll Casserole

When I was a kid the one thing that always excited me the most, was Mom's Cabbage Rolls.  I LOVED cabbage as a child, and when you throw in a few extra ingredients You get an amazing yummy and relatively healthy dish.  The one thing I was NOT fond of though was the time it took to make the meat mixture, roll them into 'turds' as my mom and I lovingly called them, and roll each one up in a cabbage leave.  And there was never enough of the cabbage for this crazy girl.  So, in an effort to save time, I broke down the recipe into two parts and created a cassarole. Enjoy this holiday tradition from my family to yours.

1 1/2 lbs Ground Pork
1 cup rices (soaked over night or for at least 4 hours)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (or more if you want)
Salt and Pepper
1 or 2 heads of cabbage (depending on how obsessed with cabbage you are)
1/2 cup of water

Preheat oven to 350

In a large pot, fill bottom with 1/2 inch of water or so, and place steam basket on bottom.  cover and bring water to simmer over low heat.  Take the cabbage and cut it up in to bite size pieces(not too small).  Place in pot sprinkle with salt and steam until they are almost done, but still have good shape.  I find color is the best indication, you still want them to be a bright green, but tender. Remove from heat when complete and place on counter near the baking dish you intend to use.

While the Cabbage is steaming Turn to the meat filling:

Drain the rice, and sprinkle the cinnamon over the rice and stir, add salt and pepper to taste, and then add the pork. Blend well so that the rice is evenly distributed thorough out the pork.

Take mixture and make small meat balls, I used a 1/2 tablespoon measure to get the right size. About this time the Cabbage will be complete.

In baking dish, layer cabbage on bottom, then take the port meat balls and place them about a finger widths apart in the bed of cabbage (you need that space, or the meat will cook together and make it difficult to remove from dish upon serving). Layer another bed of cabbage, and another of meat balls.  Do this until dish is full, last layer should be cabbage.  Once this is done, add 1/2 cup of water and place in oven for 1 hour.

I always find this makes more than will fit in my 2 qt dish, and like to make smaller servings for later those I bake for 30-45 minutes depening on size of dish (one of these smaller dishes is what I have picture)

I even find that I have some meat balls left over (I used one head of cabbage this year)  so I place the prepared meat balls in the freezer for later use.

I hope you enjoy trying this dish out.

-if you switch out the pork for quinoa cooked in beef broth with a bit of butter added it is just as good. and healthier

Pork Chops with Onion Rice

Ingredients

• 4 Pork Chops Bone-in
• 1 cup jasmine rice
• 2 cups water
• 2 - 4 tblsp onion soup mix.
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 tblsp of butter

Directions (preheat oven to 350)

1. Place rice with onion soup mix in a covered baking dish. Mix together thoroughly. Add the two cups of water
2. Season pork chops with salt an pepper (you can remove bone if desired read note at end of recipe) spray with olive oil spray on both sides.
3. Over high heat, sear pork chops until a golden crust on outside. and place pork chops over rice.
4. Cover dish and place in oven, cook for an hour . Check every once and a while to make sure that there is enough water for rice. During the last 5 minutes of cooking place 1 tblsp of  butter on top of each chop.

My husband hates bones in his food, but in the culinary world, bones are wonderful for flavor purposes. I normally remove the bones after cooking, but it occured to me to remove them before cooking, but still cooking them to get the benefits of flavor, with out the 'look' of a chopped up piece of meat on the plate.  I just seared the bones alongside the chops and placed in the baking dish alongside the chops.

Enjoy.

Melange

My dad used to work at this resturant called Henry Thiles (not sure if spelling is correct) and he brought home this recipe for seasoning salt that would last one person forever. I did my darndest to break it down to a more reasonable amount... enjoy

2 lbs 8 oz salt
1 lb 4 oz Celery Salt
1lb 3 oz Onion Salt
2 oz Sugar
6 oz Paprika
6 oz Cornstarch
2 oz curry powder
2 oz dry mustard
1 oz cayan pepper
1/2 oz each Thyme, Ginger, All spice Marjoram & Ground Cloves

Blend all ingredients together well

Store in an air tight container, taking out only the amount you will use for short periods.

Stuffed Chicken In Wine Sauce

This is for you Stef.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tblsp Italian Seasoning
• 2-3 eggs
• 2-3 tblsp milk
• 1/4 cup wine
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 chicken breasts pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
• 2 baby bel cheese wheels cut in half (4 pieces total)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions
-Preheat oven to 350

1. Mix bread crumbs with 1 tblsp of seasoning and place in shallow bowl.
2. Beat eggs and milk together in another shallow bowl.
3. In third shallow bowl place flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
4. Mix butter with remaining seasoning.
5. Place a tsp of butter and seasoning mixture with one piece of cheese in center of each piece of chicken and roll up chicken
6. Dredge the chicken in the flour, egg mixture, and bread crumbs placing in baking dish.
7. Bake chicken for 20 minutes, in the mean time, melt the remaining butter with the wine.
8. After the chicken has baked for 20  minutes, pour the wine mixture over and bake for 20 minutes longer, spooning the wine over the chicken every so often during cook time.