Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

1 large head of cabbage
1 lb sweet italian sausage
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 c cooked rice - I cook mine with beef bullion for extra flavor
1 egg
1/4 c milk
1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce (or crushed tomatoes if you prefer)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Sour cream sauce
1/2 c Sour cream or greek yogurt
1/2 c Tomato Sauce
3 Tbsp Paprika
Pinch Salt and Pepper

In a large bowl combine sausage, beef, garlic, onion, rice, egg, milk, mustard, salt and pepper. I always use my hands for this, but you could use a spatula or spoon if you like. Make sure it is well combined, you will not have another opportunity to mix this, it cooks inside the cabbage.

In a separate bowl combine tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce.

Core and microwave the cabbage on a pie plate fully covered for 5-6 minutes at a time. Peel off outer leaves, they should be perfectly steamed.  If the inner leaves are too stiff to roll put them back into the microwave for a few minutes.

Lay out on cabbage leaf. Place 1/4 c of your filling on the bottom edge of the leaf roll once, fold in left and right sides and finish rolling. Place cabbage roll in a 9x13 glass pan. Make sure you put your seam on the bottom. Once you have rolled all of  your cabbage leaves cover them with your tomato sauce. Cover your dish with foil and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or so. If you have leftover meat roll it into meatballs, shred your leftover cabbage that was  not big enough to use for rolls and lay that out in a glass baking dish. Place your meatballs on top of the cabbage, drizzle with sauce. Cover and bake alongside your rolls, an extra dinner done!

While this is baking add together your greek yogurt or sour cream, tomato sauce, paprika, and salt and pepper. When you are ready to serve your rolls drizzle this creamy sauce over the top.

1 hour to 1 1/2 hour 350 degrees

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

My parents have an adorable little garden in their backyard this year. Basic and easy plants, tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, carrots, green beans, onions, jalapenos, serranos, cucumber, and most importantly from my Moms perspective, zucchini. She absolutely loves zucchini, and always has as far as I can remember. She makes an amazing zucchini bread of her own, I decided I wanted to switch it up a bit and try something different. Since we have been trying to eat better as of late I needed a sweet treat that I didn't feel quite as guilty about indulging in. Chocolate Zucchini Muffins were born. I took a basic zucchini bread recipe and kind of morphed it into muffins. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients:
2 Eggs
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1/2 c zucchini, grated and drained
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c cocoa powder
Palm full of chocolate chips or chocolate chunks

Grate your zucchini first and set aside. I put my grated zucchini into a collander usually and put a bowl underneath. Your zucchini will give a lot of liquid after it is grated, if you do not drain it your batter will be full of that liquid and will not set up correctly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine eggs, oil, sugars, and vanilla paste in a large bowl. Mix well. Sift dry ingredients gradually into wet. Add drained zucchini and fold in very gently. Add chocolate chips. Scoop with a muffin scoop, ice cream scoop, or 1/4 c measuring cup into cupcake liners.Bake for 22 to 25 minutes.

Rhubarb Custard Bars

This recipe is one I found on a clipping from a Taste of Home magazine that was stuck inside of a cookbook I bought at a second hand store. It's fairly simple,  very rich,  and sinfully delicious. They are sweet, creamy, and tart. If you don't like Rhubarb go ahead and substitute any tart fresh fruit, strawberries work well, I've tried it.

Crust Ingredients:
2 c all purpose flour
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 c butter, frozen and grated

Filling Ingredients:
2 c granulated sugar
7 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 c heavy cream
3 eggs
5 c rhubarb, chopped

Frosting Ingredients:
2 (3 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 c heavy cream, whipped

In a bowl combine flour and sugar. Mix in your frozen grated butter until there are no large pieces, you're looking for coarse crumbs here. Press into a greased 13 x 19 baking pan, press it up slightly higher on the sides. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

While the crust is baking get your filling ready to go. In a medium sized bowl combine sugar and flour. Whisk in cream and eggs. Stir in the rhubarb. Pour over your prepared crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until custard is set. Cool completely.

For frosting, beat softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Gently fold in your whipped cream. Spread over the top of your cooled bars. Chill. Store in refridgerator.


Frozen butter.


Shortbread crust done.


Eggs and sugar.


Custard mixture.


Add the beautiful rhubarb.



Custard ready to go.


Bars cooked, waiting for frosting.

Spicy Cabbage Soup

First post in a long while, sorry about that. I've discovered it's harder to justify cooking new fancy stuff when it's only for me. I've been trying to get back on the experiment train, but haven't quite made it there yet.

It's cold out. Cold and wet. Recently I've been feeling a bit sluggish and behind in everything, I needed to clean myself up. As I'm sure you all know I've got a penchant for rich delicious foods, regardless of calories or fat. I fall back on this soup every time I know I need to clean up my diet to feel good again. It is a truly clean and delicious soup. I can eat huge portions of it, and not feel guilty, thereby making myself feel better about needing to eat the larger amount. This soup is so full of veggies I feel good about eating it, and it helps kick my digestive system back into gear. I like mine spicy, but you can choose to tone it down. Some would say this is bland, but I find it to be the perfect mixture of veggie flavors and tomatoey goodness. Check it out, and tell me what you think!