You are my Sunshine - Cabbage Rolls

I woke up with determination today to clean my whole house. And I mean CLEAN. But I must have been delusional that I would be able to do it all with my munchkin needing me (although my hubby did watch her most of the day so I could get some work done, but I still needed to take breaks with her). By late afternoon my husband needed to go out to do some jobs outside, and I wanted to make cabbage rolls for supper... So the entire time I sang to her just to keep her happy in her chair. Now I've got "you are my sunshine" stuck in my head, but hey! Supper got in the oven, so my mission is accomplished! 

I looked through cookbooks and couldn't really find a recipe I liked the looks of, so I pulled parts of each together then just winged it. Here's how it goes: 

Ingredients: 

1 head of sour cabbage 

2 cups brown rice + 3.5 cups water (makes about 4+ cups of rice) 

1 onion diced finely 

Salt and pepper (1 tsp each...or to taste) 

2 lb extra lean ground beef (I had a pack with a little less than that) 

2-3 eggs

680 ml tomato sauce (largest no name brand can) 

1/2 of tomato sauce can of water 

3 tablespoons sugar (this will add 1 pointsplus for 2-3 rolls. Splenda would work to make it 0) 

2 tablespoons vinegar 

Instructions:

Soak cabbage in cool water for a few hours. I started it in the morning, then dumped the water and added new water in the afternoon. Then a few hours later I rinsed it.

Make your rice as directed on the package. If you want it to be simply filing use brown rice of some sort. I used short grain from superstore that comes in a small yellow no name bag. 2 cups of rice make more than the 4 cups you need, but honestly it would be ok if you added it all. I saved my extra for a leftover meal for later. 

Sauté onion in a pan. When they are clear, put them to the side and brown your ground beef in the pan as well as the salt and pepper. If you continue to stir the meat it will cook up in smaller pieces, rather than large clumps (which usually happens when I'm making taco meat for some reason... I always get distracted making other toppings I think). Mix the onions in with the meat and set aside to cool. While it cools, separate your cabbage into leaf "cups" and set aside. 

Mix tomato sauce, sugar and vinegar in a bowl. (Note: when we ate them, hubby and I agreed the sauce needed some salt to get rid of the bitterness of the tomatoes). Put a bit of the mixture in the bottom your pan to prevent sticking. Since it is usually just my husband and I for supper, I decided to divide the recipe into 4 small pans and freeze 3 of them for later. I love freezer cooking/batch cooking so when I have a chance I try to divide recipes by 4 or 2. This helps us waste less and not have leftovers for a week! 

Next, place some of the meat mixture in a cabbage cup. Fold,  much like you would fold a burrito (see pictures below). Also, sometimes the cabbage cups have very hard ends (where they connected to the core) so make sure to trim those off as much as possible, as they make it hard to fold and they aren't pleasant to eat. 

Place finished rolls in pan and cover with remaining sauce. Cover and bake 350 F for 45 minutes. 

I served these with pork, so I ended up only eating 1 because they are so filling. I think they would be a great meal by themselves with a salad (pictured). Enjoy!