Supper for tonight: Vegetarian stuffed cabbage rolls and pan fried chicken with caramelized onions

'You learn to cook so that you don't have to be a slave to recipes.  You get what's in season and you know what to do with it'.- Julia Child

Hi all

So I am going into my last few days of my master cleanse and I am 8 kgs lighter, not bad. The real hard work comes afterwards. Continuing to go down, I still want to go down 12 more and staying at my ideal perfect weight which is 55kgs. Not a lot when you realize how small I am. I am 1,50 cm so 55 kg is about right for my height. I plan on cycling till the weather wont allow, continue with yoga, juicing, smaller portions, more fruits and lots more water. 

Anyhoo, I made this for my family. Vegetarian stuffed cabbage with pan fried chicken and caramelized onions. They loved it!!!!! 

What I used

- Small cabbage

- 2 onions (1 for my tomato sauce, half for my cabbage rolls and half for my chicken)

- Can chopped tomato sauce which I cooked down to get the strong 'taste' out of the tomatoes

- Celery (a stalk)

- Red pepper (quarter)

- Can of kidney beans

- Rice (small portion)

- Balsamic vinegar

- Salt (to taste)

- Garlic (for my tomato sauce)

- Thyme ( tomato sauce)

- Carrot (but I opted not to use this)

- Spice for Rice (bought in Namibia but has turmeric, paprika, coriander, nutmeg, celery, dried sage,  dried origanum)

- BBQ Spice (bought in Namibia but has paprika, coriander, black pepper, celery, pimento, cloves, nutmeg, dried chillies, garlic powder, dried thyme, sage, origanum and salt)

- Chicken thighs

Onto my many many many pictures!!!! 

My ingredients

Spices and Balsamic viniger 

 Beans and Chopped tomatoes

Cabbage, red pepper, orange pepper, onion, garlic, celery and carrot (which I didn't end up using)

Rice

Chopped onion for my tomato sauce

Added tomato to my onions and oil

 Rice in the rice cooker

Crushed garlic for my tomato sauce

Mix

Then went in my pepper, salt and Thyme 

Chopped red pepper, orange pepper, celery and onion

Onion and Celery first in my pan to brown and soften

My kidney beans

Yummy

Next went into my pan with my celery and onions, I added my peppers

Next was to marinate my chicken

I used salt and ready made BBQ spice 

Then Balsamic vinegar 

All ready to be pan fried

Nice and softly caramelized 

Cooked rice

Into my pan it went

I then added Spice for Rice

Stir'd it in

Next my beans

Stir'd that in just to warm through the beans

This as a side dish would also work

My cabbage

I decided to peel it one by one

All done

 My cabbage leaves went into boiling salted water till they began to soften which took about 10 minutes

 My spiced chicken and onions frying away in a bit of oil

Soft and cooling cabbage leaves all ready to be filled

I then cut out the core hard bit

Better angle

Rice mixture into my cabbage 

I put a little into the corner to make a little pocket then I rolled the sides so that nothing falls out and rolled it to a ball

So far good little rolls

Some were longer rolls

Next was my chunky tomato sauce and off to the oven to bake

My chicken is all done

Cabbage rolls baked until ready

Easy peasy meal

Perfect yummy meal.

This was also another first for me. I have never done stuffed cabbage rolls. I had tried them with mince. I decided to use a vegetarian base since I had already during the week cooked some mince and I had chicken on hand. Plus I wanted to use what I had (cabbage, beans) and finish the peppers and celery.

This is a bit time consuming but well worth it, I am told by my family members. Another one for my recipe cards!!!!!

I saw on YouTube a mushroom creamy sauce for the cabbage rolls instead of the tomato sauce, so I may give that a try next time.

So that's it for my meals.  Next week, its back to my Metro stations.


Peace and Love

Last Nights Supper: Shepherds Pie

'Cooking is like Love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all'.- Harriet Van Horn

Hi all

I am still on the Master cleanse, but am also still making dinners. And last nights' one was a new one for me. I made Shepherds pie. According to my family they all loved it. Here is what I used. 

- Mince beef

- Potatoes for my mash

- Carrots

- Celery

- Onion

- Garlic

- Salt

- Worcestershire sauce

- Grated Parmesan (optional)

- Tomato Puree

- BBQ Spice (optional)

 Onto the pix I took of my cooking process. 

My ingredients minus the Celery, BBQ Spice and Tomato Puree which I forgot to add to this setup.

Peeled and cut up potatoes. Faster cooking.

Cut up celery and grated carrots

In my pan is oil, onions and celery 

Boiling potatoes in salted water

Frying my onions and celery till brown

Next I added my mince

Then my minced garlic

I browned the mince with the garlic before adding my carrots

My Worcestershire sauce came in now. I was supposed to first add my Tomato puree, but I had forgotten. 

Remembering my Puree and adding in my BBQ spice as well as a little bit of water from my potatoes

When my potatoes were ready I took them out and put into a bowl easy for mashing. Next I added some butter. 

My Parmesan

Potatoes, butter and Parmesan 

My dish

First the mince

Next came my potatoes

All of it, ready to be smoothed over

Smoothed over and ready for the oven

All done!!!! Lovely golden brown and crusty!!!!

Extra Parmesan cheese. 

Yummy goodness. 

I don't know, but ever since I started my Cleanse, my cooking skills are on another level. Very funny indeed.

Please do give this recipe a try. Its so yummy and easy!!!!! Will mos def go into my rotation collection.


Peace, Love and Pie