...mmm hello!

[ S P I CY ]

S T U F F E D

C A B B A G E

Hello my ravenous internet friends :)  Meet my only healthy meal of the weekend!  Hehe oopsies..

My handsome babe of a boyfriend Todd & I have been celebrating our 3 year anniversary (yay love!!) in an extremely naughty manner. We've eaten loads of fried seafoods, rich & buttery pastas, fatty BONE MARROW!, the juiciest unlimited amouts of grilled burgers and gallons of farm fresh ice cream..oooofz!  

We DO & DO NOT feel good about it!!  

I got a chance to dance around in the kitchen once and made these super easy & healthy galumpkis (Polish cabbage rolls) that I will undoubtedly make again in the near future :D  These guys are like a big dumpling..MMM YES.  

Check out my mooooooves..

Ingredients:

1 large cabbage

Extra Virgin Olive oil

1 diced onion 

1 chopped pepper

2 tbps minced garlic

2 chopped jalapeños (optional, but so damn good!)

1 package ground turkey

1 cup cooked quinoa

28oz can of diced tomatoes
1 cup of raisins for a little sweetness!

1-2 cups frozen spinach!

Sprinkle of mozzarella cheese

Salt, cracked pepper, paprika, adobo!  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°! Ooh, baby it's gon' get hot in the kitchen! >.<
2. Let's start off by sautéeing your onion, peppers & garlic in oil.  Cook until translucently tender & remove from heat to let it cooool, bro.
3. Combine ground turkey with veggies and season with a couple dashes of adobo!
4. Add cooked quinoa (you can subsitute with any other rice or grains) into the filling mix until all happily married :)  Set aside!
5. Heat up your tomatoes and season with salt & fresh cracked pepper.. you can see I like a little tingle on my tongue since I added red pepper flakes too!  Add your raisins & frozen spinach.  Let simmer (I like sneaking more veggies in! muahaha!)  Set aside as well.
   
6. Bring a big pot of water to a boil..(do not accidentally turn off the heat thinking you turned off the burner for your quinoa pot- doh!)
7. Peel back the first 2 cabbage leaves and wash thoroughly.  Use these to line the dish for easier clean up..how brilliant, huh?!
   
8. Stab the core of the cabbage with a fork & plunge her in!  After about a minute use a knife to slice the connective core to seperate the first two leaves off.  Use tongs to remove.  Continue blanching the cabbage & cutting off the leaves until you have about 8-10 leaves.
   
9. Rest the 'wraps' onto a cutting board to drain any excess water & to also cool down.  Then it's time to have a rollin' fest! Woohooo!
   
10. Take your cabbage leaf & scoop about this much (as seen in picture) into the bottom half.  Fold both sides in & roll up!  No need to secure, just plop that chubby baby into the dish & repeat!
    
11. Rollin' rollin' rollin'.. until you fill up your pan. Also, any extra leaves can double up smaller rolls- OH! & I saved the rest of the cabbage to make into a stir fry later ;) Do not waste!
    
12. Isn't this the most heavenly looking dish!?  I'd almost stop it right here but everything is better with SAAAAAAAAAUUCEE!! Load these pretty things up with the tomato sauce & garnish with extra jalapeños. Stick it in to that hot, inviting oven. 1 hour. OH GOD.
    
13. Last step is a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese right before the hour is up.  Make sure to let this sit for about 5 minutes before serving.  You want all them juuuuuuices to stay inside the rolls, keeping the meaty yummy insides nice & moist. MMMM...MOIST.

Some people serve this with a side of veggies, mashed potatoes, pasta, sour cream..but I felt like everything I wanted was already inside the stuffed cabbage!  Mmm..now I wish I didn't give away so much to my lucky friends & family because I. want. more. ^______^

#makeloveinthekitchen