Easing Back Into Normal

 

Cabbage Casserole

Well, the holidays have come and gone. Ours came in a way that we could not have imagined. The grandbaby spent her first Christmas in the hospital with Mommy by her side. (Baby is all well, now.) The bigger girls spent Christmas here so that Mommy could focus on Baby Girl. A Christmas divided.

That meant that with driving out partway to get them and then a couple of weeks later driving them back home, we drove about 3,000 miles this holiday! All in all, those were good miles. The girls are good travelers. We enjoyed the extra time with them. And the weather was never as bad as predicted. We got lucky.

Mommy waited to open her Christmas and birthday gifts until we got out there, so we had a second celebration — a mini-Christmas!  Our best gift was seeing the happy, healthy baby zooming around the floor on hands and knees. She is a crawling pro now.

We got back home this weekend, ready to settle down a bit, even though it's taking some time to adjust to the quiet. Daddy-O had fences to mend. (A driver missed a turn and ran through a pasture fence while we were gone.) I had a million loads of laundry to do. Well, more like eight loads, but it's been enough to keep me busy. 

I really had to get back in the kitchen. It had been so long since I just did "regular cooking" that I couldn't think of a thing to make that interested me. Yesterday morning I saw a simple recipe on Facebook that sounded like it would be good. Simple ingredients. Easy to put together. Pretty much the whole meal in one dish.

 

I added those ingredients to my shopping list. And late yesterday afternoon I made myself walk in the kitchen and cook. No more hotel dining rooms to feed us! Daddy-O took his first bite and was like, "This isn't bad. Not bad at all." Then the next bite, "Wait. This is good!." And by his fourth helping, "This is really, really good."  I suggested he stop at that point so we would have enough left for tonight.

If you like cabbage—and we love it—and you like a comfort food type of meal, give this a try. It reminds me of stuffed cabbage rolls, but this is much easier to make. I am happy to have a good new recipe to add to to my collection. 

CABBAGE CASSEROLE

1/2 head of cabbage (medium-size), finely chopped

salt*

1/2 cup uncooked rice

1/2 cup diced onion

1 lb. lean ground beef, browned

salt & pepper*

1-1/2 cups tomato juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread half of cabbage in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with salt. Add rice, onion and ground beef in layers over cabbage. Spread remaining cabbage over top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour tomato juice over all. 

Cover dish with foil. Bake for 1-1/2 hours, or until done. Let stand, covered, a few minutes after you remove it from the oven. 

*I used House Seasoning instead of salt and pepper.