Cabbage Dolma

I bought a couple of cabbages back when they were on a great sale for St. Patrick's day, I knew that I would make my mother-in-law's cabbage rolls with one of them, but I wasn't sure what I would make with the other.  Then I thought about what other meals I was planning such as Greek chicken and Lebanese meatballs and I thought I would try making some cabbage dolmas.

The filling for these rolls is really good, you can really taste the mint and the meat is totally optional, I just added it to make these more appealing to my husband.

1 cabbage
1 lb ground beef
1 cup rice
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup fresh mint
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
juice of 2 lemons

Cut the core out of the cabbage and place into a large pan of boiling water.  Cover and let cook for 10-15 minutes to soften the cabbage.  Remove and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix together the beef, rice, onion, mint, parsley, garlic, allspice, half the lemon juice, salt and pepper. 

Separate the cabbage leaves, and fill each one with around 1/4 cup of filling and roll up.

Place a couple of extra cabbage leaves in the bottom of a large pan, and place the cabbage rolls in the pan.  Season with salt and pepper and the remaining lemon juice.  Pour enough water to cove the cabbage rolls, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer and cook for 45 minutes.

Once mine were cooked I decided to pan fry for a couple of minutes to get them a little browned.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Chicken cacciatore

Tuesday: Randal's birthday, he wants dirty rice stuffed peppers, layered pea salad and Italian cream cake

Wednesday: Lebanese meatballs, rice pilaf (didn't make this last week)

Thursday: Cabbage dolma, tabouleh (didn't make this last week)

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Armenian beef kebabs, fatoosh salad

Tuesday: Fish tacos

Wednesday: Lebanese meatballs, rice pilaf

Thursday: Cabbage dolma, tabouleh

Friday: Greek marinated chicken, yogurt cucumber salad
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Jambalaya

Time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal.  This month I was assigned the blog close to home.  I love getting my assignment each month, and getting to look through all the recipes on that blog.  The first thing I noticed about this blog was how nice and bright the pictures are.  I really need to improve the pictures on my blog, but I need a new camera first!

One of the first recipes I found ended up being the one I went back to and decided to make.  I have never made jambalaya before, and it seemed seasonally appropriate and Randal very much wanted to try it, and I am very glad that we ended up loving it as it made a huge amount and we were eating it for days!

8 chicken thighs
1 lb sausage
1/2 lb shrimp
1 onion, diced
2 red bell peppers, diced
2 cups diced celery
3 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno, minced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste
5 cups chicken stock
3 cups rice
3 bay leaves
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped spring onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Heat oil in a large pan, add sausage and cook until browned, around 8 minutes. Remove sausage and add chicken thighs and cook for 5 minutes per side to brown them.  Remove from pan.

Add the butter, followed by the onion, celery and bell peppers to the pan.  Cook for 10 minutes, until softened.  Add the canned tomatoes, garlic, jalapeno, tomato paste, oregano, thyme and cajun seasoning.  Pour in the stock and bring to a boil.  Add the rice, salt and pepper, bay leaves and the chicken and sausage.  Cook for 30 minutes.  Add in the shrimp and cook for 5 more minutes, before mixing in the spring onion, parsley and lemon juice.

An InLinkz Link-up

Buttermilk Strawberry Shortcake

I had a lot of strawberries in the fridge that I needed to use up, so I thought I would surprise Randal with strawberry shortcake for dessert.  I have never made this before and apparently Randal has never tried this kind before, he's always had the strawberry shortcake made with more of a sponge cake so this was new to both of us. It reminded me very much of an English scone and I loved it because it wasn't very sweet which was perfect with the sugared strawberries.

3 cups all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed

1 cup buttermilk 

2 tbsp heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar 

4 cups sliced strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice 

Place the sliced strawberries into a large bowl, add in the sugar and lemon juice and mix together.  Cover and set aside.

 Preheat the oven to 425 .

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1/3 cup white sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. 

Cut in cold butter with a knife until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

Stir in buttermilk until the flour mixture is moistened. 

Drop 1/3-cup of the dough 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet. 

Brush biscuits with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar. 

Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.


Serve the shortcakes with the strawberries and juice with whipped cream.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Dirty rice stuffed peppers (still haven't made them!)

Tuesday: Breakfast spaghetti

Wednesday: Italian pot roast

Thursday: Tacos

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Cottage pie

Tuesday: Chicken and shrimp jambalaya

Wednesday: Swedish meatballs

Thursday: Dirty rice stuffed peppers (didn't make them last week)

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie