Trisha Yearwood's MIL's Cabbage Rolls

By CarlaKay

Cabbage rolls with a secret. Shhh...

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 1 cup long grain rice (we used brown rice)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 8 ounce can stewed tomatoes
• 2 heads green cabbage
• 9 cups water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 12 ounce can tomato juice

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix the beef, rice, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and tomatoes. Set aside.Wash and core the cabbage. Bring a large stockpot filled with 8 cups of the water, the sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, and bay leaves to a boil. Blanch the cabbage in the boiling mixture for 5 minutes, or until just softened.

Drain the cabbage, let it cool, then carefully peel 12 leaves from the cabbage.

Place 1/4 cup of the beef and rice mixture onto each leaf. Fold in the sides of the leaf and wrap into a roll.

Place the cabbage rolls, seam side down, closely together in a 9 x 13 x 2 inch shallow baking pan.In a small bowl, combine the tomato juice with the remaining 1 cup water and pour the mixture over the cabbage rolls.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the meat is well done.