Cabbage Rolls, Deconstructed

I love cabbage rolls, but I never make them. They are simply too much work and I hate burning my fingers on the hot cabbage leaves. Mine invariably end up developing large holes and looking terrible, even if they do taste good. And I don't have the West Side Market or any of the other great Cleveland institutions of Eastern European cookery to rely on any longer. So, although I am pretty skeptical about Minute Rice for the most part, I decided to try this deconstructed version. I was going to go my usual bagged salad route, but then I remembered wedge salad. I love wedge salad, so I picked up a head of Iceberg, a jar of Marzetti's blue cheese dressing, a jar of those real bacon crumbles Hormel puts out and some Amish gorgonzola. Cut a nice wedge off my cleaned lettuce head, put it on a salad plate, drizzled it with dressing and scattered cheese and bacon over top. How hard is that?

Cabbage Rolls, Deconstructed

1 lb. ground beef (I used extra-lean Angus)

1 chopped onion

2 1/2 c. shredded cabbage (or, you can cheat like I did and use coleslaw mix)

15 oz. can tomato sauce

Generous 1/2 c. water

2 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. parsley

Generous 2/3 c. Minute Rice

Brown meat & onion in skillet that has been coated with cooking spray. Add cabbage and cook 10 minutes. Mix tomato sauce with water, mustard and parsley. Add to skillet. Bring to a boil. Add rice. Cover, lower heat and cook 5 minutes.