Batch Cooking Series: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

I am totally psyched about that picture.  Last weekend Wade and I were cleaning the house and getting rid of a bunch of stuff that was just taking up space in the spare room when I found the old desk lamp that we haven't used since we moved.  Instead of putting it in the donate pile I moved it into the kitchen to try out some food pictures.  Hopefully my pictures will be looking a lot better from here on out.

Cabbage rolls are such a simple food, hearty comfort food.  While discussing family recipes the other day Wade mentioned that his Grandmother always used to make homemade cabbage rolls.  My Mom used to make cabbage rolls too and I just loved to eat them during the winter.  When a cold front moved in over the weekend we decided to stay in and do some serious marathon cooking and cabbage rolls were at the top of the list.  We had one pan for dinner and froze the other to pull out in a few months when time is tight in the evening.  I got some of that new(ish) Glad Ovenware, so I'm looking forward to  seeing how that works out.  It is so convenient, especially since we don't have many casserole dishes.

•2 pounds ground beef
•1 large onion, chopped
•3 cups cooked rice
•Salt and Pepper
•1/4 cup lemon juice
•2 28 oz. cans tomato sauce (or 1 28 oz. can tomato sauce and 2 pints diced tomatoes, pureed)
•1 large head cabbage, left whole

Preheat oven to 350.

Bring about an inch of water to a boil in a large pot.  Add the whole head of cabbage.  Cover and steam for about 5 minutes.  Remove and peel off the soft outer layers of cabbage, cutting away from the base with a small knife.

Repeat until all of the large leaves of cabbage have been removed.  Chop remaining cabbage into small pieces.

Mix the ground beef, onion, chopped cabbage, cooked rice, salt, and pepper together in a large bowl.  you may have to mix this together with your hands a bit to get it all combined.

Lay out one leaf of cabbage on a cutting board.  Add about a tennis ball sized ball of beef mixture to the base of the leaf.

Fold the bottom up over the meat mixture.  Fold the sides in and roll up to form a small bundle.  Place in a greased baking pan and repeat with the remaining meat and cabbage.

Mix the tomato sauce and lemon juice together and pour over the cabbage rolls.  Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the meat mixture is cooked all the way through.