Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

I LOVE Cabbage!

I like it raw, I like it chopped into salads, I like it tossed into hot vegetable broth for a quick soup. I like it on sandwiches and for some texture on a good street taco, but most of all, I like it on St. Patrick's Day.

Now my husband and I have been married for 18 years and our anniversary is only a few days before St. Patricks Day which means our celebration generally coincides with my second favorite holiday (only because it's hard to beat out Christmas for that #1 spot...) He is pretty much a saint himself to put up with me for this long and is generally pretty easy goingwhen it comes to food or my recipe experiments.

Unless- it includes cabbage.

He seriously dislikes the stuff, or so he claims (he doesn't realize just how often I have snuck it onto our plates). This poses a problem for me (as it would for most Irish-American girls) because I want to make corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day every year, but I don't want to be the only one eating it, and I definitely don't want to be the only one eating the leftovers for weeks after the leprachauns have all made their mischievious way back home. This year I have the perfect solution though! I have been experimenting with tons of new recipes this past year and this soup is the first time he had cabbage and knew it, and willingly said he would eat the leftovers.

I kid you not, I almost passed out!

In my book that means this recipe is a winner!

So if you are looking for a little something different this year to celebrate St. Patrick's day or maybe you just need a nice bowl of warm, comforting soup on a cold yucky night, this is a must try recipe for you.

Double bonus points is that it's packed full of vegetable goodness. My recipe is made in the slow cooker because I love mine- she is pretty much my Kitchen Sister Wife but you can easily make it on the stovetop if you prefer, just use a big pot because that cabbage takes up a lot of room before it cooks down. It even filled my big slow cooker all the way to the top!

Unstuffed Cabbage rolls (Slow cooker)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup shallots ,chopped

2 lbs ground turkey

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 cups Marinara Sauce

2 cups of “riced” cauliflower

5 cups low or no sodium beef broth

1 head (or 8 cups) cabbage, sliced

Instructions

1. Heat a pan with the oil and add garlic, onions and shallots and cook until softened.

2. Add the ground turkey to the pan and cook until no longer pink

3. Drain excess fat and place the mixture in the slow cooker

4. Add in all remaining ingredients and stir well

5. Cook on high for 3 hours or low 6 hours.

*to cook on the stove use a dutch oven or heavy soup pot, follow the same recipe and simmer on low, covered for about an hour or until cabbage is tender.