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I’m baaackkk! After a much needed break from the blog (more to come on that soon), I am finally back and kicking off the new year with a great recipe. It feels so good to be back in the kitchen making healthy meals! In addition to these stuffed cabbage rolls, which I will tell you about in a second, I’ve also made this soup, this enchilada bake, these stuffed bell peppers, and these fudgy brownies (ok, the last one isn’t healthy but I just couldn’t resist).
For me, the new year is not a kickoff date for juice cleanses and detox diets, but a chance to recommit to my intention to treat my body right. This means feeding it healthy and nutritious foods most of the time, with the occasional indulgence, and making sure I move and stretch at least 4 days of the week, sometimes more and sometimes less.
Experimenting in the kitchen is also an amazing form of therapy for me and somedays I spend so long in the kitchen that my feet start to hurt and I’ve lost track of time. The day that I tested the recipe for these stuffed cabbage rolls was one of those days. I had done a big grocery haul with Daniel and was meal prepping for the week ahead. These cabbage rolls made the perfect addition to my weekly menu.
The only difficult part of this recipe is trying not to rip the cabbage leaves- I separated the cabbage leaves while the cabbage was raw and then steamed the leaves separately. I’m going to recommend that you steam the whole head of cabbage and then separate the leaves, though. Either way, it’s ok if there are a few rips since you will be rolling them up and neatly packing them together in the pan anyways.
The stuffing is pretty straightforward and I added a mixture of uncooked quinoa and rice for extra fiber. The star ingredient of this dish, though, is the tomato sauce. If you don’t have a good quality tomato sauce, then your dish is going to be very lackluster. For this recipe, I used my favorite brand, Jar Goods. You can see from my Pizza Quinoa Casserole post that I am completely obsessed with this sauce but let me just reiterate that you need this in your life. It is available in retailers across the U.S. (see store locator) and you can purchase it online as well.
- 1 head of cabbage (you'll need 8 large leaves)
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 cup chopped mushrooms
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 1/4 cup uncooked rice or quinoa
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon herbs de Provence
- 1 jar of Jar Goods Classic Red tomato sauce, divided
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring to a boil on medium heat. Stick a fork into the bottom stem of the cabbage and place the whole head of cabbage into the pot. Let the outer leaves cook for about 5 minutes and then run it under cold water briefly. Carefully remove as many outer leaves as you can and then repeat, if needed, until you have 8 large leaves. Set the leaves aside to cool slightly.
- Mix the ground turkey, mushrooms, onion, rice, egg, salt, pepper, herbs de Provence and 2 tablespoons of the tomato sauce in a large bowl until completely mixed.
- Remove part of the hard stem on each leaf with a paring knife and place about 1/3 cup of the turkey mixture in an oval shape at the base of each leaf. Roll from the rib edge of the leaf to the top, folding the sides in as you go. Place the rolls, seam down, in a 8-inch baking dish and pour the remaining sauce over the rolls, making sure they are all covered with sauce.
- Bake, covered, for one hour. Remove and let cool slightly before serving with red pepper flakes if you like.
- Store, covered, in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze for later.
I received free product from Jar Goods as a part of this post and was compensated. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make 24 Carrot Life possible.
[…] It’s been a while, eh? Besides the Stuffed Cabbage Rolls that I shared a few weeks ago, it’s been a solid two and a half months since my last real […]