Calling out the Cabbage

So while rummaging through the fridge this weekend I realized, lo and behold I had a head of cabbage that I had forgotten about. It came courtesy of the Angel Food Ministries and I neglected to add it in my meal plan. It was about a week old and looked like it needed to be cooked quickly. But I've never bought, let alone cooked anything with a cabbage. I was really at a loss. So after scouring the internet I found a unique concoction called Cabbage Rolls. An interesting take on meatloaf was my first thought. This would be easy and I had all the ingredients in my freezer/pantry already. At first I was a little concerned about how to core the head but I found a great youtube video that showed how to make the rolls from start to finish.




After checking out the video I found my old buddy Emeril on FoodNetwork.com and followed his recipe.

Cabbage Rolls

I was so surprised by how yummy these rolls were, even my picky toddler ate them up. Cabbage and all! This is a must for a hearty, pretty cheap and filling dish. I think next time I might add some celery and carrots to the meat mixture to sneak in even more veggies!

Of course so this means I've done a little rearranging of the menus but that's never set in stone and we'll make it up next month.

Mama's Crockpot Meatloaf

I have a great meatloaf recipe that I love to make, its so yummy my mouth's drooling just thinking about it but of course since I'm trying to stay out of the kitchen that recipe would not be the best thing to make right now. Instead I decided to experiment, I've never made meatloaf in the crockpot, well and honestly I've never made traditional meatloaf. I always either do meatloaf stuffed peppers or my sun-dried tomato turkey meatloaf. So this was most definitely going to be interesting. Googling meatloaf brought up a million different recipes but non seemed to match exactly what I had in mind so I combined a few and here's what I came up with.

Menu: Mama's Crockpot Meatloaf, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, green beans and a tall glass of milk.

Mama's Crockpot Meatloaf

Ingredients:
1 lb of ground beef
1 lb of ground pork
2 1/2 cups of breadcrumbs (make your own or store bought)
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 eggs
2 tbsp of worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp of ketchup
2 tbsp of milk
salt & pepper to taste

Line your crockpot with 2 strips of aluminum foil (needs this to get the loaf out) and set the time on low, either 8 or 10 hours depending on your needs.

1. In a medium bowl combine your breadcrumbs and milk, allow to soak for 5 minutes.
2. Combine the beef and pork, making sure to mix well so that you don't have any beef/pork sections.
3. Combine the meat, breadcrumbs and next 5 ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Shape the mixture into a loaf and place in crockpot.
   
5. Generously cover with extra ketchup.
6. Cook until done, you may need to drain the juice from the crockpot about half way through the cooking.

Now I like my meatloaf to have a crisp crust and I found that this was not achieved when done in the crockpot so just prior to serving I placed the loaf on a sheet pan, set the oven to 400 degrees and baked it for about 15 minutes.

While the meatloaf was crisping I prepared a package of instant mashed potatoes and heated up a can of green beans. When all was done, just plate and serve.

There's nothing like a home cooked meal of meatloaf, my son kept making yum yum faces and grunting while eating this so according to him it's delicious!