{Cabbage Rolls}

I made the Trim Healthy Mama {Cabbage Rolls} recipe for dinner tonight!  I have never had cabbage rolls so I really have nothing to compare them to, but Seth and I thought they were pretty good =)
Hey and the good news?!  I actually took PICTURES! Aren't ya' proud of me?! Lol! =D  Been trying to keep up with my blogs but with how busy summer time is, trying to hardly cook anything (especially not in the oven) while it's so hot, and just being the pregnant and tired out mommy that I am.... I've obviously been failing miserably at keeping "up" with my blogging! ),=
But.  I'm trying! =)  Hehe...
...so here's another tried and true dinner recipe, and it's even THM =)

Cabbage Rolls - 

-Trim Healthy Mama - S (meaning, "S"atisfying... balanced protein, low carbs, higher fats) pg. 312 -

1 head cabbage - 1 lb ground beef - 1 eggs - onion - green pepper - seas salt and other seasonings - tomato sauce or diced tomatoes - Worcester sauce 

1. Cut off the bottom part of a whole head of cabbage, carefully peel off approx. 5-7 leaves.  Blanch the leaves in boiling water for 5 minutes to soften.
2. In a bowl, mix 2 lbs ground beef with 1 egg, 1 finely chopped onion, and 1 finely chopped green pepper.
Season beef filling mix with desired seasonings - salt, pepper, chili powder, and onion powder are good options.
3. Fill the middle of each blanched cabbage leaf and roll it up, tucking the sides in as you roll so you end up with an enclosed cylindrical shape. (If you can do this with all of them, kuddos to you, because it so didn't happen with mine! Lol)
4. Put rolls in crockpot and cover with 1 (8oz) can of tomato sauce, or 1 can diced or crushed tomatoes seasoned with Worcester (worcestershire) sauce, sea salt, and pepper.
5. Cook on med/high in crockpot for 7-9 hours.  NOTE:  Since I pre-cooked the ground beef, my rolls did not need this long.  I also can't imagine blanching the cabbage in the boiling water for 5 minutes.  I only cooked the rolls 4-5 hours and the cabbage was plenty done!
6.  Serve hot =)
Pearl and Serene add, "Once you're in S helper stage, you may add some quinoa to the meat/egg mixture." Also, I should note that the recipe in the book is actually for a double batch, but not only does my crockpot not hold that many (approx. 14 rolls!) but my family doesn't eat that much!!!  =)  We also had leftovers, but I am thinking that once the older two are a little older that it'll be all eaten up! =)

 I dry heat sauteed the onions...

 ...and added green and red bell peppers.  Such yummy deep flavors!

 Cooked the ground beef and seasoned with sea salt, pepper, and chili powder.  

 Here are the cabbage rolls (sorry no pics of the blanching process... not only did I beg Seth for help, as I kept ripping the leaves horribly... it was slightly hectic in the kitchen this early afternoon while I was trying to put it all together! =).  Also... this is double layer, and the bottom had four beautiful rolls; alas the top ones were piece-mealed together!  Oh well =) 

 I used diced tomatoes, added the Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, and dumped it on! =)

 This is what it looked like at about 4- 4.5 hours.  Cabbage leaves were cooked through and very soft and since I had cooked the ground beef before making them, it was definitely ready to eat! =) 

Mmmm.... here's to a savory  new dinner!  =) 

http://www.trimhealthymama.com/