 |
| My Special Crock Pot Stuffed Cabbage Rolls are easy, economical and yummy! |
The filling of these little rolls consists of ground turkey or beef along with seasoned cooked rice, some finely chopped onion browned in just one strip of bacon with a covering of a quick tomato soup inspired sauce.
You may wonder how large a cabbage you need to buy. I pull off about eight leaves, which can be most of a smaller cabbage. Any cabbage that remains, I save for soup.
Then again, if you run out of cabbage leaves and wonder how you are going to finish, no problem. What I do is roll the filling into balls and put it alongside the sauced rolls.
I do hope that you try my recipe because it’s been a family favorite of ours for years.
 |
| Let me show you one stuffed roll and the plate of cooked cabbage leaves, showing the cut core. |
My Special Crock Pot Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
2 lbs. of ground turkey or beef
1 can of condensed tomato soup (10.75 oz. size) + 1 can of water
1 teaspoon of dried basil leaves
1 cup of uncooked rice
2 cups of water
1 strip of bacon
small head of cabbage
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon of dried sage
½ teaspoon of dried thyme leaves
1/4 tsp. cumin powder
Before you start preparing the cabbage, put the rice in the two cups of water to cook.
Next, it’s cabbage time. Take a small knife and cut the bottom of the core to free up the leaves. Put the cabbage in a pot of water on the stove and cook until tender. Be careful that you don't overcook the cabbage. You want it firm enough so you can roll the leaves easily. If those leaves are too limp, you'll have a hard time rolling.
Fry the slice of bacon next until cooked. Then add the chopped onion to the frying pan and continue cooking until golden brown.
Take out your mixing bowl and add the filling ingredients of the meat, cooked rice, thyme, sage, salt, pepper, cumin powder, bacon and fried onions and mix thoroughly.
Before you start rolling the cabbage rolls, you can make a simple sauce of one can of tomato soup, one can of water and one teaspoon of dried basil leaves and heat through.
To shape the rolls, add some filling to the under side of a cooked leave toward the core on one end, roll the leave now, just a little, then tuck the other side in with your finger will secure the filling. This quick trick keeps the cabbage roll together without needing to resort to toothpicks to do the same thing.
Fill the rest of the cooked leaves as I have just explained until you finish. Like I said, if you extra filling and no cooked cabbage, make little balls.
Pour some of the cooked tomato soup sauce into the bottom of your crock-pot next. Add the stuffed cabbage rolls and top with the rest of that sauce.
Cover and cook in your crock pot on low for about seven hours or so until the cabbage is tender.
ENJOY!
