I’ve been playing around with the idea of making greens to ring in the New Year, but I haven’t come across a really good recipe I’ve liked yet.  Errr!  I was talking to my girl Heather about this and told her I was making cabbage rolls for the New year as always and she pointed out that cabbage would technically qualify as a green.  Sweet!  She’s always giving me the homey hookup on brilliant solutions to my  problems.  So there ya have it!   The two in one action.  Yay for cruciferous vegetables and Heather!

I learned how to make cabbage rolls way  long ago.  Sheesh, it must’ve been, say…..my late teens or early twenties when I first tried them out?! And I’ve made it a tradition to make them for New Years ever since.  I learned how to make them by a special person named Josephine.  Although she is not a part of my life now, she still holds dear to my heart.  She is one of those very rare people that I’ve come across in life that leads by pure example and great ethics.  Although she doesn’t know it, it was such a pleasure getting to know her as she left a profund impact on me.  I wish there were more people like her around.  The world would be a better place. That’s for sure!  Anyways, she was a great cook and even schooled me on how to put coins on the bottom of the pot for a prosperous New year.  Here is the recipe.  They are way addicting!!!  I tweaked it a little as I do most recipes I cook.

But before you go any further, here is a video for you to enjoy.  We rang in the New year last night and of course Rob wins every year!  One hand takes all.  You might wanna turn your volume down.  We get rather loud and annoying when we ring in a prosperous New year aka gambling high stakes dollars!

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage

1  pound of ground beef

3/4 cup white or brown rice

1 medium onion diced

1 raw egg

1 large 46 oz can Campbells tomato juice

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1.) I start off with a head of cabbage.  Peel back the layers and set aside.  I’ve come to learn that boiling the cabbage ahead of time for about ten minutes makes it much more pliable and easy to work with when you roll the beef into an actual cabbage roll.

2.) Next, put a pound of ground beef into large bowl

3.) Add your onions and raw egg into it.

4.) Add rice to bowl and mix.  (I’m on a health kick right now so I rocked the brown rice this time around.)  Tasted the same. So that’s a plus. Then add a dash of salt and pepper to your liking.  Be careful on the salt as the Tomato Juice you will be using already has a high sodium content.

5.)  After mixing thoroughly,  form into large meatballs like so and place on a cabbage leaf and begin to wrap into a roll.

6.) Line the cabbage rolls into a soup pot.  I use a 4 quart pot.  Then pour a large can of Tomato juice over them.

7.)  Bring to a boil.  Cover and turn it down to a simmer.

 

 8) Cook low and slow for a good 2 to 2 1/2 hrs.  Check on them once in a while and ladle the juices over the cabbage rolls being careful not to disturb them too much while they are cooking. It’s done when the juices turn a darker orangey-brownish tint.

Plate it  up and serve with a side of mashed potatoes and corn.  There ya have it!  A prosperous New year dish.  Oh yes, Almost forgot.  Don’t forget the black eyed peas for the New year ya’ll.   That’s the southern coming out in me.  Since I lived in Texas, I claim southern once in a while depending on my mood.  That and all this talk about greens earlier is making me feel southern right now.   If you like it, please subscribe to my blog if you haven’t already. Many blessings for the New year to come!