Monday, December 5, 2011

Cabbage Roll Casserole



Let me start off by saying...I need a new camera. This photo does not really do this dish justice.
It is soooooooooo tasty. I actually prefer it to cabbage rolls because it is easier to eat!
The rest of the fam-damily still prefers actual cabbage rolls but they do like this as an easy alternative.
 I believe from start to on-the-table it took an hour and 30 minutes. You can cut that time down too, if you want to prepare it ahead of time. Simply get to the point where it is layered in the casserole dish and then refrigerate it. All you have to do after that is pop it in a 350 oven for an hour whenever you want to eat it.
UPDATE: It's now several years later and I have a new camera and have learned some tricks for styling food. I took new photos to try and show how awesome this dish is!!!


Cabbage Roll Casserole

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 can (5.5 oz) tomato paste
1 can (10 oz) tomato soup
2 cups water
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
4 - 6 cups shredded cabbage
sour cream, optional

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray.
Brown the beef with the onions. Add garlic, salt & pepper, tomato paste, tomato soup, and water. Bring to a boil and stir in rice. Simmer for about 20 minutes over low heat, stirring every so often.


Place half of your shredded cabbage in a greased casserole dish, cover with half of the beef mixture.


Repeat layers.


Cover and bake in a 350 oven for one hour. Serve with sour cream (optional).
*NOTE - May be made ahead and refrigerated before baking. Just let sit at room temp while preheating the oven.*
If your dish is particularly deep, you may want to give the casserole a stir at the half way point to ensure it is cooking evenly. 


I say 4 - 6 cups of cabbage because I never really measure. I use a whole small sized cabbage (half a large one) and shred it fairly fine. (I have also made it by just cutting the cabbage into strips with a knife, not shredding it, and it works well too)

Cabbage rolls and pierogies (Link to our recipe HERE) are another Christmas staple at our house. Sue and I will soon be spending an entire day rolling cabbage rolls and making pierogies in preparation for the traditional Christmas Eve Ukrainian feast.
We have a lot of traditions at Christmas that revolve around food.
Hmmm.... in fact, for all of the different holidays we have food traditions. A lot of them...
We do love our food :)


Be sure to pop over to Carole's Chatter for more tasty links.

16 comments:

  1. Okay I've made this but never thought to shred the cabbage, great idea Jo! I like it and will have to try it for tomorrow's (scratch that, I'm making it tonight!) supper. Thanks Jo. :)

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  2. I need a new camera, also!!!!

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  3. looks very Yummie,think i may try it tomorrow,thank youxo
    cheryl johnson

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  4. - Let me know how it turned out for you Kansas :)
    - I wish I had a new camera to capture how tasty ths dish really looks!!! I may have to ask Santa for one for Christmas this year
    - I hope you enjoy it Cheryl :) It really is a very tasty and simple dish. (And inexpensive to make!!)

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  5. Tasty! It's a tiny bit too sweet for me with the canned tomato soup (although I generally dislike tomato soup because I find it's too sweet), but that's obviously not a significant detractor since I've had two helpings just now. I'll be tossing a bunch in the freezer for those "I WILL not be cooking tonight" days, so hopefully it freezes well... but even if it doesn't, I'll be making this again. Thanks--this was just what I was looking for!

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    1. Glad you liked it! Please let us know how it freezes. I know regular cabbage rolls freeze very well so I don't see why this dish wouldn't. :)

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    2. I used bottled spaghetti sauce instead of soup....which I also dislike.....works like a charm.....YUMMY

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  6. I wish this recipe had a "Print" option, to print a recipe without all the comments and ads. It's a waste of paper and ink...when this sounds like such a good recipe to have!

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    1. I know - me too! Unfortunately there is no print option for me to add. If one ever becomes available I will definitely add it! - In the meantime, have you tried copy and pasting into a blank word document? You can just do the recipe that way and you don't get all the photos, ads, comments, etc... Just a thought! :)

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  7. Anyone know how this would work with brown rice?
    I think I will give it a try.

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  8. I was so hungry for Cabbage Rolls, but no real time to make them right now. I had all the ingredients, but no time to make cabbage rolls. I tried this casserole today and it was fabulous. My husband and son agreed! Feed them and they are happy. I replaced the tomato paste with chunked tomatoes. Otherwise, all was the same. Five Stars! With this cold weather snap in Pgh, my kithen was all warm and smelled of all day cooking. Love it!

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  9. Use your curser to select only what you want to print. Right click in the area you just selected. A drop down box will appear. Select "PRINT". Your printer box will open. Be sure to select the "print selection only" box and the black and white only options. Press OK to print. This should give you what you want without all the extras and color.

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  10. I have used a recipe similar to this, then when there is only a little leftover I add it to a can it tomato soup for a delicious cabbage roll soup.

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    1. What a great idea Debra! I'm definitely going to try that next time :)

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  11. Try using cauliflower rice in place of the instant rice, tastes great and low carbs!!!

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    1. Great idea. I wonder though if it would be too watery??

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