Cabbage Roll Casserole

Let me start off by saying...I need a new camera. This photo does not really do this dish justice.

It is soooooooooo tasty. I actually prefer it to cabbage rolls because it is easier to eat!

The rest of the fam-damily still prefers actual cabbage rolls but they do like this as an easy alternative.

 I believe from start to on-the-table it took an hour and 30 minutes. You can cut that time down too, if you want to prepare it ahead of time. Simply get to the point where it is layered in the casserole dish and then refrigerate it. All you have to do after that is pop it in a 350 oven for an hour whenever you want to eat it.
UPDATE: It's now several years later and I have a new camera and have learned some tricks for styling food. I took new photos to try and show how awesome this dish is!!!

Cabbage Roll Casserole

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 can (5.5 oz) tomato paste

1 can (10 oz) tomato soup

2 cups water

1/2 cup uncooked white rice

4 - 6 cups shredded cabbage

sour cream, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray.

Brown the beef with the onions. Add garlic, salt & pepper, tomato paste, tomato soup, and water. Bring to a boil and stir in rice. Simmer for about 20 minutes over low heat, stirring every so often.

Place half of your shredded cabbage in a greased casserole dish, cover with half of the beef mixture.

Repeat layers.

Cover and bake in a 350 oven for one hour. Serve with sour cream (optional).

*NOTE - May be made ahead and refrigerated before baking. Just let sit at room temp while preheating the oven.*
If your dish is particularly deep, you may want to give the casserole a stir at the half way point to ensure it is cooking evenly. 

I say 4 - 6 cups of cabbage because I never really measure. I use a whole small sized cabbage (half a large one) and shred it fairly fine. (I have also made it by just cutting the cabbage into strips with a knife, not shredding it, and it works well too)

Cabbage rolls and pierogies (Link to our recipe HERE) are another Christmas staple at our house. Sue and I will soon be spending an entire day rolling cabbage rolls and making pierogies in preparation for the traditional Christmas Eve Ukrainian feast.

We have a lot of traditions at Christmas that revolve around food.

Hmmm.... in fact, for all of the different holidays we have food traditions. A lot of them...

We do love our food :)


Be sure to pop over to Carole's Chatter for more tasty links.