Hello Lovelies!
A fun recipe to share with you on this Tasty Tuesday! Being a single gal sometimes I don’t eat food quickly enough. Lately, I’ve realized that’s money walking out of my door so I resolved to find things that I could make with my fresh food and store for later. I had two heads of cabbage that I needed to use so I decided to try stuffed cabbage rolls. I amended the recipe to fit what I had hanging out in my kitchen. It’s great because you can literally use anything for the stuffing.
Stuffed Sante Fe Cabbage Rolls
1 Medium Head of Cabbage
Black Beans*
Mini Red & Yellow Peppers, Bell Pepper, Banana Pepper
Onion
Squash & Zucchini
Ground Flax Seed ~ About 3-4tbsp
Water
Spanish or Wild Rice (optional – leave out for plant-based/Paleo version)*
Ground Chicken, Turkey or Beef (optional – leave out for plant-based version)
Spices: Turmeric, Black Pepper, Fresh Basil and Cilantro
**To make sure this remains gluten-free, do not cook your rice in packaged chicken stock as it most often contains gluten. Some are sealed with wheat paste. Also use fresh black beans as dried black beans contain gluten **
The How To..
Saute your onions, peppers, squash, zucchini and black beans with spices. I add a little agave nectar in to help caramelize the onions. Set aside and start your rice. To be honest, I can’t make rice to save my life so I cheat and buy the microwavable Spanish rice. It’s a life saver trust me..
Take a large pot and place it on the stove. Fill about halfway with water and bring to a boil. Peel your cabbage leaves off one at a time. Once water reaches a boil place several leaves in until they are covered with water. I had to push mine around and down. It doesn’t take long for them to become pliable about 2-3 minutes. Remove leaves from pot and place in crock pot. I placed mine in my crock pot with the lid over to keep them warm while I was boiling the rest of the leaves (totally optional!).
While your cabbage is boiling, add your ground meat into the pan and brown. Once brown combine with your onions, pepper, and black beans mix. Once rice is ready, add it in and give it all a good stir to blend.
Now you’re ready to stuff your leaves. Take a leaf out and put it so that it faces up towards you like a bowl. Place about 1/4-1/2 of your mixture into the leaf. Tuck the bottom up, sides in and roll forward. You should have everything rolled nicely at this point and place in your casserole pan :)
Continue until you run out of leaves or the stuffing mixture.
Lots of people like to cover their cabbage rolls with tomato sauce, but I don’t like tomatoes so I always skip that step.
If I have any extra mixture, I usually pour it over the tops. Place those bad boys in the oven at 350* and bake for about 20-25 minutes.
Remove from oven, let cool and enjoy!
XoXo!
One Stuffed Lemon
Adventures with Kat 