Inside-Out Stuffed Cabbage

I found this recipe in my last Taste Of Home issue. We both love stuffed cabbage, but it takes so long to make, thought maybe this would taste similar and looked like it was fairly quick to make. I made a double batch so there'd be leftovers....I've been trying to make at least one meal a week that gives me leftovers, so on Monday or Tuesday all we need to do is re-heat something. It's been working out fairly well. Typically Kurt gets home before me, so if it's something that needs to go in the oven, I just give him a call and tell him to throw it in the oven and at what temperature :)

Ingredients: brown rice, spicy V8 juice, beefy onion soup mix:

More ingredients: Cabbage, green pepper, squash:

(ingredients not pictured include water, brown sugar and ground beef)

How convenient is this?!!? Thanks, Wegmans :)

Chopped cabbage and green pepper

I cut the squash up a bit more:

Cook the ground beef, squash and green peppers til done:

Add cabbage, water, V8 juice, soup mix and brown sugar and cook til cabbage is tender:

Add rice and cook for 5 minutes, then let sit for 5 minutes til rice is done:

Enjoy!

I've been buying these instead of bread or rolls to accompany our meals. They are yummy! Fiona turned us on to them :)

I have enough left over for a meal for three (maybe Adam'll join us for once) and I have a container to freeze that'll feed the two of us sometime. I really enjoyed it and yes, it went a whole lot faster than making stuffed cabbage. Kurt said it was "OK"...that he'd like it to be a bit more spicy (don't worry...the spicy V8 juice did not make it one bit spicy...LOL!). I questioned him on that cuz stuffed cabbage isn't ever spicy! Then he changed his tune to "I guess I expected it to be a bit more tomato-y!" Fortunately, he's not picky and will eat whatever I put in front of him, so he won't have any issues if I were to make this again!

Recipe (this is a single recipe)

1 lb. ground beef

2 cups cubed peeled butternut squash

1 medium green pepper, chopped

6 cups chopped cabbage

1 can (11 1/2 oz) spicy hot V8 juice

1 cup water

1 envelope beefy onion soup mix

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 cup uncooked instant brown rice

In a dutch oven, cook the beef, squash and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the cabbage, juice, water, soup mix and brown sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until cabbage is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in rice. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes until rice is tender.