Unstuffed Cabbage

Remember that I had half a head of green cabbage to use up? Well I made this pretty easy and delicious Unstuffed Cabbage from my Healthy Cooking For Two (or Just You!) cookbook. There was no parboiling of the cabbage. No fiddling with rolling it up. It's nowhere near as pretty as regular stuffed cabbage, but it really captures the taste. Of course my Hungarian aunt makes them a thousand times better. The best part was that I had it in the oven in about 15 or 20 minutes. Then I could go do what I wanted for an hour.

So far I'm really liking this cookbook. I can tell you though that the portions are definitely generous.

Unstuffed Cabbage

from Healthy Cooking for Two (or Just You!)

serves 4

1 pound extra-lean ground beef

1/4 cup long grain white rice

1 whole egg

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2/3 cup chopped onions

1/2 medium head shredded cabbage

1 Tbsp brown sugar

16 oz canned tomatoes (with juice)

1 1/2 beef broth or water

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium mixing bowl, lightly but thoroughly mix the beef, rice, egg, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and half the onions. Shape mixture into 8 meatballs.

Spread half the cabbage in a heavy, 3 quart dutch oven. Top with the remaining onions, then the meatballs. Finish with the remaining cabbage.

Sprinkle with the brown sugar and pour in the tomatoes (with juice) and broth or water. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat.

Cover the casserole, move it to the oven and bake for 1 hour, or until the rice is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Per serving: 420 calories, 21.5g total fat, 8.3g saturated fat, 130mg cholesterol, 568mg sodium, 27.7g protein, 30.1g carbohydrates, 5.1g dietary fiber