Favorite Food Friday: Unstuffed Cabbage

I really like stuffed cabbage, but I don't like all the prep work. Having to make meatballs, precook cabbage, wrap the meatballs with the precooked cabbage... I like easy. These meatballs remind me of the flavor of stuffed cabbage and are delish. To me they were begging to have cabbage wrapped around them. So, to satisfy my yearning for stuffed cabbage I always serve these meatballs with sauteed cabbage. It's just like having stuffed cabbage - just unstuffed!



what you put in it:

1 lb. ground beef

2 cups cooked long grain rice (I use Jasmine)

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, divided

1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt, divided

1 - 28oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1 head of cabbage, shredded

how you make it:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ground beef, cooked rice, onion, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Shape mixture into eight meatballs and place into a 7 x 11 inch baking pan.

Pour crushed tomatoes over the meatballs, sprinkle with the remaining salt and pepper, and add the bay leaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

While the meatballs are baking, shred the cabbage and saute in a large skillet until soft, about twenty minutes.

Enjoy!

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