Cabbage Rolls

Remember in grade school when we had cooked cabbage for lunch? Ugh...the whole school smelled absolutely awful and we wanted to hurl! No way would any of us dare try to eat the cabbage. These days we love cole slaw, saurkraut, and even stuffed Cabbage Rolls...go figure (and the aroma is even delicious, except when the cabbage is steamed in the microwave!) I never thought I would be cooking something called Cabbage Rolls, but my husband and I really enjoyed these. Well...he enjoyed them (they were gone when I came to check on them, as in the crock pot was almost empty of the cabbage rolls before they were even fully cooked, gobbled up!) I had only made 1/2 batch the first time, but since I still have some cabbage left and some pork tri tip roast I over BBQ'd....maybe I'll chop up the meat in the food processor, add the other ingredients and extra liquid and see how this turns out. I'm getting pretty creative at reprocessing meat gone bad, cooked badly not rotten meat!

Cabbage Rolls from with several changes by this creative cook!
Ingredients:
1 medium head cabbage
1-1/2 pounds ground beef (throw in some sausage for extra flavor)
1/2 cup uncooked instant rice (some recipes called for cooked rice)
1 small chopped onion
6 or 8 sliced mushrooms
(I freeze whole mushrooms in baggies, pulling out just what I need for a recipe. For this recipe I threw the frozen mushrooms into the food processor with the onion. While I added the egg and spices to the bowl I let the mushrooms and onion sit to thaw a bit. Then I chopped them up a bit, before tossing into the meat mixture.)
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley flakes
SAUCE:
2 cans (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
Remove core from the cabbage. (I couldn't get the core out so before I put meat on each leaf I cut out a V at the end to remove the large vein.) Place cabbage in a large microwave safe bowl and steam in the microwave for about 10 minutes while preparing the meat.
Combine meat, rice, onion, egg and seasonings; mix well. You must use your hands to mix as it more thoroughly spreads the spices. Plus the egg gooshing through your fingers until you gag is good therapy, keep squooshing until all your anger at the world subsides. Place about 1/2 cup of the meat mixture on each cabbage leaf on the vein. Roll away from the stalk, tucking in sides. Place rolls, seam side down, in large crock pot. When I ran out of meat I was done (use the remainder of the cabbage, if any, for chicken/cabbage salad or fried cabbage, recipes will follow.)
Combine all sauce ingredients; pour over rolls. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours. Using an instant read thermometer check the temperature of meat (I like my meat at about 170 degrees, but sometimes the way it looks tells me more!)