Roasted sweet potatoes + stuffed cabbage rolls!

Yesterday’s dinner. Me and my parents have been trying to eat healthier after we all got bloodwork recently. We are cutting back on simple carbs and sugar, such as white rice, so feel free to use rice instead of chickpeas for health reasons like I did!

We have a booth at our local farmer’s market, and the lady across from us sells produce – As she was packing up for the day, she generously gave us two MASSIVE heads of cabbage she had leftover! One was turned into soup and the other was utilized for this meal. ❤️

This fed 3 people, with plenty of leftovers – and was even a big hit with my dad who is picky about vegetables and went for seconds! 😁

• 4 halved and cubed sweet potatoes with roughly chopped red onions in a bowl, tossed in a bit of EVOO with salt, pepper, paprika & Italian herb blend. Added to mom’s trusty baking tray and baked in the oven at 400F.

While that cooks, I prepared the cabbage and filling.

We got ground beef and turkey on sale at our local grocery outlet, so I used 50/50 of each. Seasoned with beef bullion, a frozen bag of peppers & onions, 2 cans of chickpeas, minced garlic and a can of fire-roasted tomatoes.

I browned the meat in a pot with a little EVOO, added the thawed peppers and onions, and sautéed thoroughly. I added seasoning to taste, like a splash of Worcestershire sauce, pepper, salt, etc.

A lot of water came out so I utilized that and made a quick cornstarch slurry – about 2-3 TBSP corn starch to cold water, and added that in. Let it simmer until thickened.

On the side I had a pot of salted water boiling – Using my butcher knife, I cut the stem of the cabbage leaves near the root so I can pull them away from the head without tearing. I had to cut the leaves into halves because they were SO massive, so you probably won’t have to do that for most store bought cabbage. A quick boil in the salted water until soft takes about 3-5 minutes. With tongs, take them out and set aside to cool on a plate.

Once the stuffing is done, take it off the heat and let it sit a few minutes and stir occasionally as you get your leaves boiled. I made 9 wraps to fill the baking dish!

Once all your leaves are soft and mostly cooled, I lay them out and spoon the filling about 1/3 of the way from the edge and then gently roll them up like a burrito. I start from the edge, roll over the filling, fold the sides in, and then finish rolling and place in the baking tray. Rinse and repeat!

Once the wraps were lined up in the baking dish, I poured over a jar of Italian tomato pasta sauce over the top of them and then slid it into the oven alongside the potatoes for a bit.

At the end, I turned on the broiler and kept an eye on them. Got everything nicely browned and pulled it all out. Topped with a little sour cream and hot sauce – it was a hit for us. ❤️❤️❤️