Mid-East Chicken, Veggie and Rice

4 cup cooked brown rice
1 T canola oil
8 oz fresh green beans, halved diagonally
1 lg white onion, thinly sliced
1 lg red pepper, thinly sliced
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 cup shredded cooked chicken
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3 T chopped toasted walnuts


Heat oil in deep skillet on high.  Add beans and onions, and cook stirring frequently ~5 minutes or until onions lightly browned.  Add peppers and 1/2 t salt and cook 3 minutes until peppers are just tender.  Add broth and stir up any brown bits.  Stir in chicken, rice, cinnamon and 1/2 t salt.  Simmer until no liquid left, ~1 minute.  Transfer to platter and sprinkle with parsley and nuts.


This is a really quick after work dinner.  I often buy a rotisserie chicken and pull all the meat off and keep it in the fridge.  Most of the time, it gets eaten at cold right out of the fridge, but I also can use it for lunch wraps or quick soups. For the cooked rice I used the Minute Rice pre-cooked cups.  These are intended to be heated in the microwave, but just a little heating is necessary.  These are also great to have on hand for soups.

If you have time a day or two before, you can slice all the vegetables and keep them in airtight containers.  

Hubby liked this, although he said he wouldn't want to eat it too often.  With the cinnamon smell, he said he kept expecting oatmeal.  Really this mix is fairly neutral, and if you wanted to replace the cinnamon with your favorite spice scheme it would work very well.  Adobo comes to mind as a good replacement.  

Chicken Stew with Beans

3 chicken breasts
3/4 t salt
2 T vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 t chili powder
1/2 t ground cumin
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed
1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
1 15 oz can corn, drained
1 4oz can chopped green chilis


Cut chicken into 3/4 inch chunks and salt.  In small stock pot heat 1 T oil on high.  Cook chicken completely and remove from pot.  Reduce heat to medium and heat remaining 1 T oil.  Saute onion, garlic and spices until onion is soft.  Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil  Reduce heat to simmer and cook 10 minutes.  Add chicken and simmer another 5 minutes, or until desired thickness is reached.

3 T of chopped cilantro can be stirred in at the same time the chicken is re-added if desired.

Our normal dinner on a week night had been pretty much chicken breast with some kind of seasoning pan fried, and a frozen vegetable and sometimes a starch.  This was mostly because I get home late-ish and it is easy to put together.  Ian was getting tired of the "fork & knife" chicken, so we were looking into different things that could be done for dinner.   He doesn't like soup, but stews were not out of the question, and can be made ahead of time.  This is the first stew we tried.  So far so good.


It freezes well, and I think we need a mini-freezer.  One the size of the freezer that comes with our fridge, but just the freezer.

Green Tomato Rice

4 slices bacon, diced
1 bunch green onion, chopped
4 medium green tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 jalepeno, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cup chicken broth
1 cup long-grain rice
dash thyme
salt/pepper
Tobasco
1/4 cup grated Parm

Saute bacon in medium saucepan over medium heat until crisp.  Remove from pan onto paper towels.  Save 1 T drippings.  Saute onions 1 minute.  Add tomatoes and cook 1 more minute; add garlic and jalepeno and stir 30 seconds.  Add broth, rice, thyme, salt/pepper, and Tobasco and bring to boil.  Stir, then reduce heat to low and simmer covered 20-25 minutes until rice is done.  Stir in Parm just before serving and sprinkle with bacon.

I'm always looking for something to do with green tomatoes.  My tomato plants always seem to make a big fruit push at the end of the summer, just when it starts to get too cool for them to ripen.  Some of them I pluck as soon as they reach decent size so the plant can concentrate on ripening, other just won't make it to ripe.  I really only have patience for 1 round of fried green tomatoes, so I have been trying other things.

The nice thing about peeling green tomatoes is that it can be done with a peeler; the scalding method you need to use for ripe tomatoes is not necessary.  Just be sure that your peeler is sharp.

This was delicious.  It made 4 big servings, and I think could easily be cut in half; no need to use a half clove of garlic.

Spinach and Chickpeas

2 T olive oil
1 lg onion, thinly sliced
1 15 oz can chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 lb fresh spinach
1/2 cup minced fresh dill
2 lemons, juiced
salt/pepper

Heat oil over medium heat and saute onion until soft.  Add chickpeas and toss until coated.  Cut large stems off spinach leaves and loosely shred and rinse.  Add undrained to pot with dill and cook until the spinach is tender.  Stir in lemon juice and season with salt/pepper.

This was a fairly tasty side dish.  I made it for a family gathering, and we decided to eat it room temp, which was pretty good.  It was also tasty when I reheated the leftovers.  It looked the most vibrant right away, then the acid in the lemon started to brown out the spinach.

Sweet & Sour Beef-Cabbage Soup

1 T canola oil
1 lb lean ground beef
1 1/2 t caraway seeds
1 t thyme
2 1/2 cup frozen green bell peppers/onions
1 medium Golden Delicious apple - unpeeled & diced
6 cup beef broth
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 T honey
1 T paprika
3 cup coarsely chopped Savoy cabbage
1-2 T cider vinegar
1/4 t salt
fresh ground black pepper


Heat oil over medium heat.  Add beef, caraway and thyme; cook until beef is mostly browned.  Add peppers, onions and apples and stir 2-3 minutes.  Stir in broth, tomatoes, honey, and paprika and bring to a gentle boil.  Cook 8-10 minutes.  Stir in cabbage and cook 3-4 minutes until just tender.  Season with vinegar and salt/pepper.


This is a recipe from Eating Well on a Budget.  This was less beefy than I'd like, although I did substitute 2 of the cups of broth with water because that's what I had, and I should have added some beef soup base to make up for it.  Also it was too astringent for me.  I added both tablespoons of vinegar without tasting a smaller amount.  I couldn't eat it as was, so I strained out all the chunky stuff and saved the broth.  I used the broth as the liquid to make rice and mixed it in Texas Hash style (I should post that recipe sometime).  It turned out pretty edible, as the starch soaked up some of the acidic tang.  There's a good chance I'll try this again, following more closely. 

This is the sort of thing I do often, especially since I like to try new recipes.  Sometimes, it's not  something you really like, but you can eat the one batch and never make it again.  Sometimes you can salvage part of it.  I hate throwing out food since there are lots of people who would love to have it, so I only do so if I truly cannot find a way to make the dish edible to me.

Apple Pear Cucumber Salad

2 T whole grain mustard
2 t dill
4 T cider vinegar
pinch brown sugar
4 T olive oil
2 crisp apples, unpeeled
1 firm pear, unpeeled
1 English cucumber
1 small or 1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped

Combine mustard, dill, vinegar, sugar, and olive oil and whisk until emulsified.  Slice apples, pears and cucumber into thin slices.  Combine all and toss well.


This is probably best after about 30 minutes of making and storing in the fridge, but it did hold over well for about 3 days.  Much longer and it might have become soggy.  For the apples and pear I quartered them and cut off the core, then cut the slices crosswise.

Sugared Pecans

2 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 dash salt
4 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted


Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold in sugar and salt, then fold in pecans.  Pour butter into 9x12 baking pan and spread in nut mixture.  Bake 350 degrees, stirring every 10 minutes.  Set on wire rack to cool completely and store in an airtight container.


I brought this to Christmas this past year, and it was a huge hit.  I made it again to bring to a work potluck, and since I made it a day early I seriously had to keep myself from eating it all.

If you are unfamiliar with beating egg whites here are some tips.  To separate from yolks either use the shell or your fingers; I prefer fingers.  This is easiest to do when they are cold, but they whip better when room temperature.  Use a metal or glass bowl, and make sure there is absolutely no fat (including the yolk) mixed in.  This will prevent them from whipping.  To be sure, I separate the egg into a small bowl and if yolk-free pour it in the mixing bowl before going on to the next egg.  For the stiff peaks, use an electric beater, and you can go on high until you start to see trails in the foam, then slow down.  A stiff peak is when you dip the beater straight in and out, and the tip doesn't curl over.  Don't overbeat past this point, or you will get a gloppy mess.

Sweet Potato Bread

1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cup sugar 
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/3 cup water
1 t vanilla sugar


Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt until well mixed.  Separately combine eggs, sweet potato, oil and water.  Mix into dry until just moist.  Spoon into greased and floured 9x5 bread pan and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.  Bake 350 degrees 50-60 minutes, until inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes, then depan. 

This was sweet enough to be a dessert bread.  If you are baking sweet potatoes whole, throw an extra one (or two) and mash it up for this.  I used one that was pretty large.  Since I was only making this, I cubed and steamed it.


If you don't have vanilla sugar, you can buy some at spice stores such as penzeys.com or you can make your own.  I buy Penzey's vanilla extract and it comes with a vanilla bean in it.  When it's empty I dry the bean and place it in a pint of sugar.  If you let it sit quietly in your cupboard for a while it will become nice and vanilla-y.  It's good for sprinkling on strawberries too, and is excellent for making your own cinnamon sugar.  Of course you can always use regular sugar.

Spoonbread

1 cup white cornmeal
2 cup water
1 t salt
1 cup cold milk
2 eggs, well beaten
2 T butter, melted

Combine cornmeal, water, and salt in a large saucepand and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  It will become very thick; do not add more liquid at this stage.  After 5 minutes, remove from heat and gradually stir in milk, then egg, then butter.  When mixed pour into hot greased baking dish and bake 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until center is firm and top is browned.

This is something that I usually make for breakfast.  I like having a made breakfast (as opposed to cereal) without actually having to make breakfast in the morning.  I usually divvy this up into servings and put in the fridge, and heat one each morning in the microwave for about 30 seconds and pour on syrup.  Lately I've been using some freezer jam that never set. 


Why white cornmeal?  I dunno, it's what the original recipie said.  Go ahead, use yellow.  White is usually the only kind I have in the house anyway - I may have originally been searching for recipies that used white cornmeal.  The milk was labeled as "sweet" milk, leading me to believe this was written up in a place they use a lot of buttermilk.


A side note on the eggs: I use fake eggs.  Commonly known as Egg Beaters.  I use them in just about everything that calls for eggs, unless I'm actually eating eggs (or soufle's or custards).  You get a consistant amount because they are measured, they don't break, and if you are breading things, you don't have to use a whole egg when a half would have done.  Also useful for when you are cutting down a recipie that would require a partial egg.

Summer Fun

It's been a bit since I've posted.  Mostly this is due to not wanting to try cooking new recipes over the summer because most of July was over 90 degrees and we don't have AC.  It's really a shame because I started planting in our expanded garden this year and I wanted to do more cooking.  Maybe we'll get AC next spring and I can keep up.

The thing I regret most is not keeping up with the green beans I planted.  I have two rows, which is way more than I need for hubby and myself, so I was going to can them.  Got myself a giant pressure canner.  Then it was just too hot to go out and pick them.  I was able to keep the garden watered even through the heat; sprinklers are a wonderful thing.

I was talking to my dad about my beans-gone-by and I knew that green beans, left to grow bigger, become a bean that gets dried and called a Great Northern.  I was talking about letting them dry and my dad suggested that I saute them fresh.  It worked nicely, but I think they might require some blanching first.

Handful shelled overgrown beans
1 clove garlic, sliced thin
1/2 a tomato, chopped
Olive oil
3 basil leaves, torn.


Saute beans and garlic in heated olive oil.  Before garlic turns brown add tomato and any juice that oozed out while chopping and stir in basil leaves.  Simmer stirring occasionally until tomatoes and basil have softened.


The tomato was from my garden too.  It wasn't all the way ripe, but it had some bruising on its shoulders and was going to take over the whole tomato if allowed to ripen.  

I hope to pick back up and post more, now that it has cooled off (although yesterday was 97 and today is 95) and I can get back into the kitchen more comfortably.

Barley-Vegetable Medley

1 cup whole corn
1/2 cup quick-cook barley
1/2 cup chopped onion (1 small)
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup coarsely shredded carrot
2 t instant beef bouillon
1/2 t dried basil
1/4 t dried thyme
1/4 t dried oregano
1/8 t fresh ground pepper
1 large tomato, chopped


Bring 1 1/2 cup water to boil.  Add all ingredients except tomato.  Return to boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered 10 minutes, until barley is tender.  Drain.  Stir in tomato over same heat until tomatoes heated through.

This was pretty simple to make.  I was skeptical that it didn't have any salt and I find that usually starches (like barley) cooked without salt are pretty bland.  The bouillon, plus the additional herbs make it well seasoned, and the bouillon I use is actually Penzey's beef soup base, which is less salty than regular bouillon.  AND I'm a salt junkie, so it must have been the additional spices that really bring this up to tasty.

This probably would be considered four large side-dish servings.  I would serve it the same way as a rice-pilaf. 

Red Pepper and Onion Relish

2 red bell peppers, chopped
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 T crushed red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to boil, and reduce to simmer.  Cook 30 minutes, uncovered.  Stir occasionally.  Chill at least 4 hours before using.

I went in search of this recipe after buying something similar in a jar at a schmanzty cooking store.  I was reading the ingredients on the jar ($5 for 6 ounces!) and thought it must be simple and cheaper to just make.  This makes a smidge over a pint for probably the same or a little less money. 

This is good on top of chicken.  Usually I pan fry chicken with salt and pepper, then remove it from the pan and deglaze it with the relish - just long enough to heat through - and spoon over each piece of chicken.  Lately we've been using with mayo or italian dressing with chicken and cucumber in sandwich wraps.  It also goes nice on a Triscuit with some mozzerella and heated under the broiler until the cheese just melts.

This freezes nicely, although I've yet to see it go bad in the fridge - possibly due to the high acidity from the vinegar.

Chicken Soup with Lentils and Barley

1 cup sliced leeks
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T butter
2 14.5 oz cans chicken broth
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup dry lentils, rinsed
1/2 t basil
1/4 t oregano
1/4 t rosemary
1/4 t black pepper
1 1/2 cup chopped cooked chicken
1 1/2  cup sliced carrots (about 3 medium)
1/2 cup quick-cook barley
1 14.5 oz can tomatoes, cut up

In stockpot cook leeks, bell pepper and garlic in melted butter until tender.  Stir in broth, water, lentils, herbs and black pepper.  Bring to boil; simmer covered 20 minutes.  Stir in chicken, carrots and uncooked barley.  Cover and simmer another 20 minutes or until carrots are tender.  Stir in undrained tomatoes and heat through.


Instead of using water, I had about a cup of home made chicken stock and completed the rest of the water.  Also I think that using a can of diced tomatoes instead of cutting up whole canned tomatoes would be better.  On the whole this is a hearty soup, not very brothy. 

Also, when making anything that requires cooked chicken I buy a rotisserie cooked chicken.  It costs the same around here as buying a raw roaster, and it has a better texture than poached chicken.

Fennel and Celery Salad

2 fennel bulbs
3 celery ribs
1/4 cup olive oil
3 T lemon juice
salt/pepper

Cut fennel in quarters - use mandoline to slice thinly.  Slice celery in the same thickness. Chop small handful of fennel fronds.  Toss all together.  In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, then combine with vegetable. 


The original recipe called for freshly shaved parmesan cheese.  I find shaving parm to be tedious, and I don't think I can taste it in this salad.  Also, if you are going to make this salad ahead of time and eat over the course of a week (which I do) I recommend leaving out the salt and just adding some on and tossing it in just before eating.  Otherwise it leaches out all the water from the vegetables and the dressing becomes very runny.  If serving right away though it's fine. 

I tried this the first time with skepticism.  I don't generally like fennel; I'm not a big fan of licorice.  Even when I make this I can't snack on the fennel shavings.  Something about the lemon juice mixes with the slight licorice flavor and somehow makes it acceptable to me.  This last time I made this, I used 1 fennel bulb and julienned a jicama for a little variety. 

Also regarding the mandoline - use the slicing guard or get a fancy cut-proof glove.  I have a nice oval scar on the very tip of my middle finger where I took a slice off while not using one.  Thankfully, I was slicing things very thin and my blade was sharp, so the damage wasn't too bad.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2 cup crushed strawberries (or any berry)
4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1 3 oz liquid pectin pouch
2 T lemon juice


Combine crushed strawberries, lemon peel and sugar; let sit for 10 minutes.  Add pectin and lemon juice and stir for 3 minutes.  Ladle into 1/2 pint containers, leaving 1/2" head space.  Seal and label.  Let sit at room temperature until set - usually 24 hours or less.  Lasts 3 weeks in the fridge or 1 year in the freezer.

Peach Jam: replace with 1 1/2 cup crushed peaches, reduce sugar to 3 1/4 cup, increase lemon juice to 2 1/2 T.


I just finished the last of my freezer jam two sandwiches ago and I miss it already!  I made 2 batches of each.  It lasted as long as it did because the second batch of each I crushed ahead of time, and it didn't set as well.  I'm not really sure about the science, but if I had to guess (and I have already) the water needs to be drawn out by the sugar to enhance the fruit's natural pectin, instead of just seeping out from the cellular damage caused by the crushing.  The batch set, but was kind of liquidy - Ian didn't like it so I was forced to eat it myself.  Mostly set jam does make a good ice cream topper though.

This recipe was part of our starting effort to try to eat locally and seasonally whenever possible.  Since this is a cold climate, in order to eat a nutritional variety in the winter you have to preserve.  The strawberries and peaches were purchased from our local farmer's market.  The peaches were incredibly cheap because I bought up their batch of "seconds" which means they were on the ground instead of the tree and would bruise up fast, but since I was crushing them I didn't care.


This coming summer we might step into canning, which besides jam, I'm looking forward to pickling.  Not only cukes, but I have developed a great fondness for pickled green beans.  Certainly I'll continue to freeze - I've already frozen green and jalepeno peppers - by chopping and laying out on a cookie sheet on wax paper.  Good enough for cooking, at any rate.  If I keep freezing stuff I'm going to need a basement freezer.

Baked Burgers

6 hamburger buns
1 lb ground beef
2 T finely chopped onion
1 t salt
1/8 t pepper
2 cans (8oz?) tomato sauce

Hollow out centers of bun tops.  Crumble removed bread and mix with beef, onion, salt, pepper and 1 1/2 cans of sauce.  Place bun tops on bottoms and fill hollowed cavity with beef mix.  Bake on sheet pan 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  Spoon remaining sauce on top of beef and bake another 5 minutes.

This recipe came from an old 1950's magazine; Time or Life or something like that.  It was one of those recipe ads.  The size of the can for tomato sauce was not specified....I can only imagine they probably only sold one size at the time.   Most of the recipes in the magazine in general seemed very....bleeech.  This I thought might have some potential, so decided to give it a whirl.

It wasn't awful.  While mixing the beef, I could tell then that there was too much liquid.   One can of sauce would probably have been plenty.  The texture was generally mushy.  I imagine this is what happens to meatloaf if you forget to put an egg in it.  At the outset, I had been afraid the buns would burn, but really what happened is they toasted and got really hard.  I can be kind and say that it was a texture contrast.

I won't be keeping this recipe card.  I suppose with some tinkering it could be something different, but for my trouble I'd rather just make Sloppy Joes.

Black Bean Lime Chili w/ Couscous

Couscous:
1 cup water
2/3 cup couscous

Chili:
3 T olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 T chili powder
1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes (undrained)
1 14.5 oz can black beans (undrained)
1 10 oz can or 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup lime juices (approx 3 limes)
1/4 chopped fresh cilantro

Bring water to boil - pour in couscous; stir in and cover.  Remove from heat and allow to sit, covered 15 minutes.  Heat oil in stockpot or dutch oven over medium heat.  Cook onion until soft.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.  Add peppers and chili powder and cook another minute.  Stir in tomatoes and beans; bring to a simmer and hold 5 minutes.  Add chicken and stir in, until heated.  Turn off heat and stir in lime juice and cilantro.  Fluff couscous with a fork and mix with chili.  Makes 4-6 servings.


Another old favorite.  This was originally a recipe from a show called Calorie Commando, which took favorite but fattening meals and cut down the fat and calories while still keeping them yummy.  Sometimes the recipes were kind of meh, but there was always a neat tip.  One tip that isn't used here (or in any of my current stash) is to use low-fat dairy products instead of fat-free.  The reasoning, according to the host, is that there isn't much of a caloric difference but fat carries flavor, and the whole point is eating tasty food.  

The original recipe called for serving the chili over the couscous, but I like it mixed in.  It makes it easier to put in a container to heat later for lunch, and I also think the couscous gets a better chance to absorb the flavors.

Green Beans with Mushrooms and Crisp Onion Crumbs

2 T unsalted butter, divided
3/4 cup panko
2 T dehydrated minced onion
3/4 t salt, divided
2 sprays cooking spray
1 1/2 lb uncooked green fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half
1 lb button mushrooms, thinly sliced

In a large, deep, non-stick skillet, over medium-low heat melt 1 T butter; add panko, minced onion and 1/4 t salt.  Increase heat to medium - stir often until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.  Remove from skillet and set aside - wipe skillet clean. 

Coat skillet with cooking spray; place over high heat.  Add beans and mushrooms.  Saute until lightly golden and tender, about 6 minutes.  Add remaining T of butter and salt and stir until melted.  Place in serving dish and coat with crumble topping.     


For more tender beans, blanch first.


The original recipe looked as though it was intended to be a make-ahead recipe.  There was a line that stated to put "beans and remaining butter and salt in a skillet until mixture is heated through".  After much puzzling I determined that it was intended to be made ahead of time up to the point before adding the remaining butter and salt.    Also 6 minutes doesn't seem to be enough time to cook beans.  I did blanch and shock mine, and after the cooking they were just al dente, so I think without that step they would have been too crisp. 

That said, it was pretty darn tasty.  We added an extra 1/2 lb of beans because the recipe says it serves 8, and we had 12 for Thanksgiving. 

Sweet Potato and Onion Salad

3 sprays cooking spray
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large red onion, cut into large chunks
1/4 t chili powder
1/4 t salt
1/8 t fresh cracked back pepper
1 T white vinegar
1 oz frozen apple juice concentrate (undiluted) - approx 2 T



Coat non-stick baking sheet with cooking spray.  Place potatoes and onions on sheet and coat with more cooking spray; toss to mix and coat.  Roast 400 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  Remove from oven and let cool slightly; spoon into a serving bowl.

In a small bowl, stir together remaining ingredients.  Toss with potatoes to coat.  


I made this while visiting my parents in Connecticut for Thanksgiving, although not for the big dinner.  We decided to make this last-minute like, and had everything on hand except apple juice concentrate.  We did have apple cider, so we figured concentrate is a 3 to 1 ratio, so reduced about at 1/4 cup of cider down to the proper amount.  Some of the onions flaked off on their own and were pretty charred.  Some of them were edible but others were too black.  The chunks of onion that the layers stayed together fared best.   Alternatively, I suppose they could be flaked into separate layers, and tossed in about half-way through the cooking time.

Cabbage Roll Stew

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 head cabbage, chopped into large pieces
1/2 cup red wine
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 T brown sugar
1 T white vinegar
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t whole caraway seeds
1 t garlic powder
1 T worcestershire sauce
1 T Italian seasoning

1 cup uncooked rice.
 
In large stockpot, brown meat and drain fat.  Add onion and cook 3 minutes until softened.  Add cabbage and wine - cook covered on med hi heat 5 minutes until cabbage wilts.  Add remaining ingredients except for rice.  Bring to boil.  Cover and reduce heat; simmer 30 minutes.  Meanwhile prepare rice according to package directions.  Combine with cabbage mixture.


This was originally a recipe I found that was titled "Unstuffed Cabbage Roll."  It appealed to me not only because I wouldn't have to go through the tedium of trying to make little packages of cabbage, but also because I find the rolls themselves a little difficult to eat.  This was a recipe that took all the flavors but a simple presentation.  I tweaked it to my liking, and finally decided it was no longer a "dish" but a "stew" once I had had my way with it.  Don't be afraid to make small tweaks, even to well known chef recipes.  Food should be how you like it, not how someone else says it should be.  If those two views coincide, sure, but don't be pinned down.