Janet's Quick and Easy Dinners

Today's dinner choice is another result of cleaning out the recipe binder. I threw away the handout, but I want to remember Janet's great ideas. Although, we never did try her cabbage casserole at the time, now we have. And we also know that having the ingredients for enchilada casserole, chicken bake and lasagna in the pantry or freezer is a very wise idea.

Cabbage Roll Casserole

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1/4 cup green pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• 1/4 cup bread or cracker crumbs
• 1 egg
• salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
• 1/2 small cabbage, cut in chunks (about 6 cups)
• 1 can (16 ounce) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (8 ounce) tomato sauce

Combine beef with onion, green pepper, rice, bread crumbs and egg. Season to taste, then form meatballs. Place the cabbage chunks in a baking dish and top with the meatballs. Pour tomatoes and tomato sauce over. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 60-90 minutes, until cabbage is tender and meatballs are cooked through. (Janet used instant rice; if you do that, it won't take as long to cook.)

This reminded me of the Porcupine Meatballs my mom used to make, just on a bed of cabbage. There's a reason I didn't make them for my own kids, and the likelihood of us having this recipe in the future is low, but we enjoyed it today.