Body Conscious Ramblings

Having grown up in Poland I’ve come to associate certain dishes with my culture and today making something that reminds me of that time of my life is rather refreshing. One of those dishes I’d eat as a kid was Cabbage Rolls:

• 1 Cabbage
• 1lbs Extra Lean Ground Pork, Chicken or Turkey
• 1 Onion (chopped)
• 2pkgs of Mashrooms (divided)
• Salt, Pepper, Bay leaves,
• Tomato paste
• Buckwheat flour (for the sauce)

  Preparation:
  1. Put cabbage in a microwave for 10 minutes to soften it. Then separate the leaves and put aside.
  2. Sauté the meat, set aside.
  3. Sauté the onions and mushrooms. Set aside one part mushrooms for the sauce.
  4. Mix the meat and onions and one part of mushrooms together, add salt and pepper for taste.
  5. Fill each leaf of cabbage with the mixture. Fold the leaves together so that the roll is closed and the mixture cannot escape. Use a thread to tie the roll together.
  6. Put cabbage rolls in a frying pan to brown the cabbage a bit in a table spoon of olive oil.
  7. Arrange the cabbage rolls in a large pot and cover with water. Add the second part of the sautéed mushrooms, 3 bay leaves and let the water come to a boil. Next simmer for 30-60 minutes or until the cabbage becomes translucent.
  8. Take out the cabbage rolls out of the pot and make the sauce by adding 2-3 table spoons of tomato paste and sprinkling some buckwheat flour into the sauce to thicken it a little bit stirring the sauce vigorously. Do not overdo with the flour, because it will start to clump easily. If that happens to you, you can always scoop out the clumps.
  9. You might want to include a vegetable with your meal. I picked sautéed asparagus.

  Our choice of dessert that day were Lucky Ginger Spice Cookies from Tosca Reno‘s cookbook:

  

• 1/4 olive oil based margarine
• 1/2 Sucanat
• 1/4 cup Unsulfured Molasses
• 3 large egg whites
• 1 1/4 cup unbleached  all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• Pinch ground nutmeg

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Beat margarine until soft. Add sugar and molasses and continue  to mix well. Add egg whites and mix until the batter is creamy in texture.
3. Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until well blended. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.