Nearly Paleo "Golumbki" - AKA Stuffed Cabbage

I have great childhood memories of my mom's stuffed cabbage.  She'd cook it in this old dutch oven, sprinkled with white specks where it was once black and worn down.  It might be so old that it might have been my great grandma's but I'm not so sure.  My mom made plenty of dishes in that pot - roasted chicken and gravy, roasts with veggies browned from the meat drippings, meatloaf (not a fan of ever, sorry ma) and my favorite, stuffed cabbage.  My mom would always make plain meatballs, not wrapped in the cabbage in case one of us four kids didn't like the cabbage, and then extra pieces of cabbage for those of us (me, me!) who loved the cabbage.  The sauce always was thick and delicious, and I loved to top my rice with the sauce and the extra cabbage.  It's one of those things that my mom didn't make often because it was always best for a cold, winter day and not everyone in the family liked the cabbage (my dad was more interested in stuffed peppers, which I think the rest of us could have done without). 


As I mentioned before, I have this organic share and like Forest Gump's box of chocolate, "ya never know whatcha gonna get".  This week, I got cabbage.  Cabbage is one of those veggies that I enjoy, but that I have to truly craft to get Steve to enjoy it as much as I do.  The idea popped into my head - stuffed cabbage! But oh, shit, I'm grain free - ohhh the disappointment! Then the idea came to me. I've used cauliflower as a rice substitute before, why not do it this time too? So I went to work and I will say, I think it was pretttty successful.  I did make ONE mistake though, and I've corrected it in the recipe but will tell you here what that mistake was - I reached out to my mom to determine what she used as sauce, and she mentioned she either used tomato soup or tomato puree.  Wanting to keep this as organic and natural and paleo as possible, I opted for Trader Joe's Organic Creamy Tomato Soup - while this soup is fantastic, and tasty and was great with the stuffed cabbage, it wasn't the right kind of soup.  When my mom uses soup, she means condensed soup, not something with all of the extra liquid added! In the end, my base ended up too soupy and less saucy like I remembered as a kid.  While I did not make it this way, I put this substitute into my recipe below.  

Almost Paleo Stuffed Cabbage

1 lb ground beef (80/100)

1 head green cabbage

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1 1/2 c riced cauliflower 

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp tomato paste (save the rest in case you need it for thickening later)

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp salt 

2 c tomato sauce or condensed tomato soup (this is your non-paleo part unless you puree yourself)

Chop off stem of cauliflower and add to large stockpot of water.  Allow to boil slightly, with the goal being to allow the cabbage leave to me moldable, gently release them from the head of cabbage with a spoon as it continues to boil. Remove from water and allow to cool.  

Meanwhile, in medium mixing bowl, combine ground beef, onion, riced cauliflower, basil, sage, oregano, tomato paste, salt and egg.  

Form oblong shaped meatballs and roll in cabbage leaves. 

 Leave some unwrapped if you do not have cabbage lovers.  Add to crockpot and pour tomato puree or soup over. Add extra, large pieces of cabbage. Allow to cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4.  Serve over cauliflower rice or brown rice. 

I will say, Steve had told me before he ate this that he did not like cabbage. And like so many meals before this, I proved him wrong. He enjoyed the meatballs, liked them with the cabbage and even took a fully wrapped one for his second helping! There were barely leftovers as I was planning for - score!