Cabbage Rolls

Laura and I have been looking for a recipe for this Romanian dish or years. I recently learned that in other countries the “same” dish is often called Sarma and the English term would be stuffed cabbage. Armed with that information I was able to find a variety of recipes to try. I’ll document some resources here and construct a recipe that works for us. I’ll keep it under the Romanian term because that is the one we are trying to replicate and is how we think of the dish even if our final recipe ends up being more generic than the traditional Romanian variety.

Here are links to some existing recipies:

Working Recipe (adapted from from Sarmale 1):

Ingredients

  • 1 whole head cabbage, about 4 pounds
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 finely chopped medium onion
  • 2 minced garlic cloves (1 tsp granulated garlic)
  • 2 ½ cups raw rice
  • 4 cup hot water
  • 1 ½ pounds ground pork (turkey)
  • 2 slices crustless white bread
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 cup sauerkraut juice reserved from drained sauerkraut (¼ cup vinegar)
  • 10 black peppercorns (1 tbsp ground pepper)

Directions

  1. Remove core from cabbage. Place whole head in a large pot filled with boiling, salted water. Cover and cook 3 minutes, or until softened enough to pull off individual leaves. Place the cabbage had back in the water to soften inner leaves after removing the softened ones from the outside. You will need about 18 leaves.
  2. When leaves are cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to cut away the thick center stem from each leaf, without cutting all the way through. Chop any remaining cabbage and set aside.
  3. In a large skillet, saute chopped onion, garlic and rice in 3 tablespoons olive oil, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent. Add hot water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand 5 minutes or until rice has absorbed all the water. Let cool.
  4. Place pork in a large bowl. Quickly dip bread in water, squeeze to remove excess water and add to meat along with onion-garlic-rice mixture, combining thoroughly. Add dill, thyme, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons water. Mix completely but lightly so as not to toughen the meat.
  5. In a medium bowl, mix 3 cups water with vinegar, remaining chopped cabbage from step 2 and set aside.
  6. Place about ¼ – ⅓ cup of meat mixture on each cabbage leaf. Roll away from you to encase the meat. Flip the right side of the leaf to the middle, then flip the left side. You will have something that looks like an envelope. Once again, roll away from you to create a neat little roll.
  7. Using 2 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil, coat a large, lidded Dutch oven or casserole dish.
  8. Cover with a layer of stuffed cabbages. Pour sauerkraut juice-water mixture over all.
  9. Heat oven to 375° Transfer to oven and cook 1 ½ hours. Then add sliced tomatoes, cover and cook another 45 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking another 15 minutes.

Stroganoff

Ingredients

  • 1½ lb Hamburger
  • 2 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
  • 2 can Milk
  • 1½ cup Sour Cream
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Rice or Noodles

Directions

Brown hamburger season generously with salt and pepper. Add soup, milk, and sour cream. Simmer until desired consistency is reached.

Serve over noodles or rice.

Squash Fry

Ingredients

  • 6 cups (about 4 medium) Zucchini/yellow squash
  • 2 pounds hamburger
  • 2 medium green bell peppers
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • seasoned salt
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 cup shredded cheese (optional)

Directions

Chop zucchini/squash into half inch cubes and begin to fry with olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic powder and seasoned salt to taste. While frying the squash, brown hamburger, salt and pepper to taste, and add finely chopped bell peppers. Combine meat mixture with squash (and cheese if desired) and continue to fry for 5 minutes to let flavors mingle.

Better Than the Bottle Ranch Dressing

Ingredients

  • 1 small clove garlic, smashed
  • 1 tsp. country dijon mustard
  • ½ tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice
  • ¼ cup buttermilk
  • ¾ cup mayo
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons curly parsley (like a small fistful, and best if it’s been in the fridge a day or two)
  • salt and pepper

Directions

Combine garlic, mustard, onion powder, lemon juice and buttermilk in a blender until garlic is finely chopped.  Add mayo and sour cream, blend. Last, add the parsley and blend until the parsley is chopped and the mixture is smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

It gets thicker over night, so refrigerate that bad boy!

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic – chopped
  • 2 cups chicken (in chunks)
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 4 cups of chicken broth
  • 1 can rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilis)
  • 1 can green enchilada sauce
  • 1 can drained black beans (or any bean you like)
  • 1 can drained corn (could use dehydrated or freeze dried corn)
  • ½ bottle of fire roasted red peppers
  • chips
  • avocados
  • cheese
  • sour cream

Directions

Sautee onion and garlic then set aside. Brown chicken pieces and set aside. Melt butter and add flour. Stir and add about a cup of chicken broth making a rue. Put the onions and chicken back in. Now add:

  • remaining chicken broth
  • rotel
  • enchilada sauce
  • beans
  • corn
  • red peppers

Cook for nine minutes on high in pressure cooker. Top with chips, avocados, cheese and sour cream.

No-Boil Pasta Bake

Ingredients

  • 1 16-ounce box of pasta (ziti, penne or any other medium-sized, shaped pasta)
  • 1 24-ounce jar of tomato sauce
  • 24 ounces of water
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • ¼ tsp Pepper
  • 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 425° Combine uncooked pasta, tomato sauce, water and seasonings in a mixing bowl. Pour into a greased 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake 30 minutes. Uncover and stir well.

Top with cheeses. Bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and pasta is fork-tender.

Spiced Red Potatoes

Ingredients

  • ½ cup Olive oil
  • Set 1
    • 1 tbsp oregano
    • 1 tbsp cilantro
    • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • Set 2
    • 1 tbsp oregano
    • 1 tbsp basil
  • 1 tsp salt (optional)
  • shredded cheese (optional)
  • 16 cups red potatoes

Directions

  1. Put oil, salt, and spices in a covered bowl large enough for the potatoes.
  2. Chop the potatoes (¾ inch cubes are about the right size) and place them in the bowl.
  3. Cover the bowl and shake thoroughly.
  4. Place potatoes on a cookie sheet. If using shredded cheese, sprinkle it over the potatoes now
  5. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes then broil for 3 minutes.

30-Day Bran Muffins

These are called 30 Day Bran Muffins. I am telling you this title because the title is what changed my life. You see, the 30 Day refers to how long the covered batter can last in your fridge without going gloopy, glopy or sprinkled with blackish green bumps. Which means, I make a load of batter one morning, and for a week we are baking fresh, piping hot muffins without having to whip them up daily.

You follow?

One batch of batter will take us through the week. We eat about six of these branfabulous muffins a day. And if we don’t get through our half dozen in one day, I throw out the old muffins because REMEMBER? the next morning I bake new ones.

Now listen, they are just bran muffins. There’s no sprinkle or shine to them. I baste them with honeybutter right out of the oven and it makes them sweeter. Sometimes I throw fresh raspberries into the muffin tins with the batter, sometimes banana, sometimes fresh blueberries from Passionista’s farm in Washington. If I am emotionally dependent on food one particular morning, I resort to chocolate chips or my old standby, Nutella. See that sky? That’s the limit on these ladies. These bran muffin ladies. Break it down.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups All-Bran Cereal
  • 2 cups Boiling Water
  • 1 cup Margarine*
  • 2 ½ cups Sugar*
  • 4 Eggs
  • 4 cups Buttermilk
  • 5 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 5 cups Flour
  • 2 cups Bran Flakes Cereal

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CJaneEnjoyIt/~3/Xcg8quXcUCg/30-day-bran-muffins.html