Pizza Cabbage Roll Casserole

I love simple comfort food that is easy and makes enough for leftovers the next day. When I was kid my mom would make stuffed cabbage rolls. I loved the meat filling but was not a big fan of cabbage.

A cabbage roll (also known as pigs in a blanket) is a dish consisting of cooked cabbage leaves wrapped around a variety of fillings. It is common to the ethnic cuisines of theBalkans, Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe, as well as West Asia.

In Europe, the filling is traditionally based around meat, often beef, lamb, or pork and is seasoned with garlic, onion, and spices. Grains such as rice and barley, eggs,mushrooms, and vegetables are often included. Pickled cabbage leaves are often used for wrapping, particularly in Southeastern Europe. In Asia, seafoods, tofu, and shiitake mushroom may also be used. Chinese cabbage is often used as a wrapping. (courtesy wikipedia.org)

As an adult I love it. My kids tolerate cabbage, depending on the dish I make. A few years back I decided to turn the traditional stuffed cabbage roll into a time friendly casserole. All of the same flavors but with half the effort, but my kids still didn’t rave about it. They were like me and would eat the filling, but not much of the cabbage.

Then I had and idea to add pizza flavors to the dish and amazingly they loved it and asked for seconds. This recipe actually serves like a lasagna when cut. You could also add other pizza toppings like pepperoni or sausage with great results. Great meal that is easy and gets the kids to eat more vegetables.

Assemble the recipe the night before and refrigerate overnight. When you get home, remove from fridge, allow to come to room temperature before baking, otherwise add additional 15-20 minutes to the covered cooking time. This makes a large amount of food. Leftovers will freeze well for a quick dinner on another night.

Crock Pot Method:  You can also make this recipe in a crock pot. Brown meat, and veggies and place in crock pot. Add remaining ingredients,  stir to combine. Cook on low for 6-7 hours.

Mexican Chipotle Layered Bake

We were very busy, a few weekends ago, with different functions. We had our monthly Dinner Group at our house on Saturday. It was The Pioneer Woman theme night. I will explain this and my menu in another post. I cooked all day Saturday and had a fabulous dinner. Usually on Sunday I cook a meal or two for the blog and also take various meats out of the freezer so I can plan my meals for the week. But by this Sunday afternoon I was beat. I didn’t feel like cooking a big meal. I had yummy leftovers from the night before for lunch and I was full. But the pesky kids always want to eat.

I had a pound of ground beef in the freezer and decided to make taco meat for the kids. Then my mind does what it usually does and I make the ordinary, extraordinary, using just ingredients I have in the house. I made a Mexican Chipotle Layered Bake with minimal effort. I used Herdez Chilpotle Salsa for a smokey taste, but any salsa will do. This dish could also be used as an appetizer party dip if you want. The kids placed the mixture on soft tacos and they loved it. Simple, good and quick!