Cabbage Rolls

This recipes comes from my mother-in-law. They are time consuming but I always make enough to have an extra casserole to put in the freezer so I get two dinners out of the whole process. They are delicious and a wonderful winter meal!

1 head of cabbage

3 pounds of mixed ground meats (pork, beef, turkey, chicken, whatever!)

1 cup brown rice

1 onion, diced

salt and pepper

2 eggs

tomato soup, 2 small cans or 1 large can

Bacon (optional)

Core the cabbage as best you can, remove first few layers. Place cabbage core down in a pot of water, bring to a boil. Remove leaves as they loosen with tongs to a sheet pan with a layer of paper towels or a lint free tea towel. As you pull the leaves off the tongs, there is a lot of water so drain them well. Meanwhile, cook your rice and let cool.

As the cabbage is cooling, saute onion in tsp of olive oil until soft, not brown. Then mix with rice and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix meats with salt, pepper and 2 eggs. Once cooled, add rice/onion mixture and mix all together.

When the cabbage leaves have cooled a bit, you can start rolling. Cut out the tough core of each cabbage piece in a V. Lay a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture near the V roll once, turn in one side then the other and continue to roll. Put the rolls in a 9x13inch baking dish that has been covered with a light covering of tomato soup (with the opening side down). Once you are finished rolling, add to the top any leftover cabbage (chopped fine), the rest of the tomato soup and slices of bacon (optional.... I didn't add them this past time I made them and they still tasted great!)

Bake, covered, in a slow oven (at 275) for 2 hours or so. You can also bake at 350 for about an hour. Check to make sure they do not get dry, add more tomato soup or water if they look like they are drying out. Long, slow cooking is best.

They also freeze well, so if you have enough meat mixture and enough extra cabbage rolls, make more and put them in the freezer for an extra dinner!

We had them for dinner with a side salad. Kids ate them too(minus the cabbage)!