Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

Okay, so I’m not really sure what goes into a cabbage roll, but this is a little of what I imagine.  I was just trying to make something up to use my cabbage and what I had on hand and it turned out pretty good.

Now, my measurements are approximates as I was making this up and didn’t really measure that well.  So, go with the flow and make it to suit your tastes.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 pieces of bacon, chopped up, or you can crumble it later, I like chopped
• 1 lb ground meat- I used chicken, but sausage would be really good, or even ground pork or beef
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2- 1 whole head of cabbage, sliced and chopped
• 1-2 carrots, shredded

Directions:

1.  Cook bacon in frying pan until crisp.  Remove the bacon and put on paper towels to dry, reserve the drippings in the pan.  Add about 1 Tbsp oil to pan and add your ground meat (this may be unnecessary in fattier meats like ground beef, but for my ground chicken, it was needed).  Add onion and garlic to the meat and cook until onions are soft and meat is fully cooked.  Remove from pan, again reserve the drippings.  Add cabbage and carrots to the pan.  Cook for about 7-10 minutes on medium or until cabbage is tender-crisp.  Toss meat and bacon in with cabbage.  Serve alongside green salad, at least, that’s what we did.

Verdict:  Both my husband and I found this a little bland.  Next time I would probably add more garlic, maybe some ginger or something, but the kids ate it up.  In fact:

The licked the pan clean, almost literally.  I was a little surprised they liked it that well.  This is one that is definitely going into our rotation.  Quick, easy, and yummy.  I’m all for that.  Plus, we have over 20 cabbage plants out in our garden right now and I know I’m going to be needed to find some uses for them all this summer.

This Week's Bounty

I was out of town last week, but this week sure does look good.

1 head lettuce
1 head cabbage
2 celery
8 carrots
3 bunches green onions
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 clamshell strawberries
5 peaches
10 plums
6 mangoes

7 Granny Smith apples (one of my favorites)
4 limes
4 bananas

I had some super yummy lemonade this last week that used fresh lemons and I just may have to use my limes to make limeade.  I also need to find some uses for those green onions.

Potato Hash with Sausage and Chard

I was really excited to see gold potatoes in our Bountiful Basket last week.  The hard part was trying to decide how to use them.  I decided to try some of them in this hash.  I had some smoked sausages left over in the fridge and some swiss chard that needed used.

Ingredients:
10 ish small potatoes, diced
1 small onion chopped (mine was chopped really small so the little ones would eat it)
2 smoked sausages (you could substitute any kind of meat)
1 bunch swiss chard, leaves and stems chopped
2 Tbsp oil

Directions:
Heat oil up in a pan.  Add the potatoes and cook for about 10 minutes and then add onion and cook for a few more minutes.  Add sausage and chard.  Cook until chard is wilted and tender and potatoes are tender.
Serve with optional toppings.  We used salsa and sour cream, but cheese would have been really good, too.

Verdict:  The kids ate this all up.  One picked out her sausage and shared with her sister.  Most of them at least tried the chard, but if anything was left on their plate, it was that.  Also, oldest daughter preferred hers plain.  We ate this for dinner, but it would have been just as good for breakfast!

This Week's Bounty

I was so excited to see grapes this week.  I almost bought some when I went shopping, but decided to wait and see.  However, I had to take my kids with me this week, so about 1/3 of the grapes are gone, along with about 4 apples.

1 head lettuce

6 ears corn

1 bag carrots

1 bag yukon gold potatoes

4 tomatoes

6 apples

1 clamshell strawberries

1 bag grapes

Our site was short 1 cantaloupe, so I donated mine since my kids and myself are not big fans.  I'm seeing grilled corn and grilled potatoes in our future this week along with my nice, big green salad that I love!