cabbage rolls or bell peppers..

[butterfly77]

with meat and tomatoe sauce any recipes..

[Mind_your_head]

1. Stuffed Pepper recipe (from my mom/grandma) that I make all the time

1 large onion, diced
3 Tbsp. Butter
1.5 Cups Cooked Rice
2.5 lbs. ground beef
1/2 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
5-6 green peppers, cleaned with tops taken off

1 large can whole tomatoes (squish them a bit before adding to pot)
1 small can tomatoe sauce
1 small can tomatoe paste

1/3 cup flour
1.5 cups milk or water

Cooked diced onion in butter until translucent and a bit carmelized. Combine the beef, rice, onion, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Stuff the peppers with the beef mixture. If you have any leftover beef mixture, form it into 'portion-sized' balls. Place the stuffed peppers (and meat balls, if any) into a very large stockpot. Add all the tomatoe products plus enough water to completely cover the meat. Turn your burner to high until the pot starts to boil, then reduce heat to a very gentle boil. Cook for one hour from this point.

After an hour, skim any grease from the surface (I find that a gravy seperator is very helpful here). Mix the flour and milk or water together till very smooth. Turn the pot back up to high boil and add the flour/milk mixture. Once it returns to the boil, let the flour cook for 3-5 minutes. Done. To serve, place one pepper and plenty of sauce in large/wide soup bowls. Serve with plenty of crusty bread for soaking up the tomatoe sauce/soup/gravy.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: The measurements above are mostly approximations. I learned this recipe by sight/feel and never measure, just like mom/grandma taught me to do it. ;-) You may have to make it at least once before you get the salt/pepper and rice/texture ratios correct to your liking. Regarding the rice: If you add too much rice, the balls will be too soft/mushy. If you add too little rice, the balls will be too hard (like a hamburger patty). If I had to chosed though, I would err on the side of too much rice, rather than too little).

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As you can see, I'm not very good at writing recipes . I also know how to make stuffed cabbage, but kinda gave up because trying to write the procedure down "wasn't going very well" - lol but I COULD do it if you or anyone else is interested. Stuffed cabbage is considerably more work than stuffed peppers and, frankly, I think the peppers are better/more flavorful than stuffed cabbage - especially considering all the extra work involved.

Hope this helps you a little bit.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. I hear ya that stuffed peppers are less work and...

taste better. Stuffed tomatoes, too. Even stuffed artichokes.

I also hear ya that recipes kinda suck, and I just throw things together, too. It's a problem when something's either really good or really bad, though-- I usually can't remember just what it was I did.

Seems you forgot what herbs and spices you use for the filling here. Me? I have chili powder, cumin, cayenne, basil, thyme, parsley, adobo, garlic, ginger and celery always at the ready for things like this, and sometimes a a lot of other things. How much of each, or which ones I use, depends almost entirely on my mood at the time.