In which our heroine eats

Our turn at Fair Shares is coming up tomorrow, so here's a quick peek at what we did the last time.

The ingredients: Ground Pork, Sage, Mushrooms, Broccoli, Cabbage, Lettuce Mix, Pasta, Goat Mozzarella, Coffee, Focaccia Pizza Crust (plus whatever we still have from previous deliveries).

First, we traded the coffee back in for Dogtown pizzas. The coffee was French Roast, which apparently LB does not like. I ate both Dogtown pizzas while LB was out of town, which may not have been exactly fair but was delicious.

The menu (Fair Shares ingredients in parentheses)

• The aforementioned Dogtown Pizzas
• Pancakes and sausage with applesauce & strawberries (FS: pancake mix, sausage, maple syrup, strawberries, applesauce)
• Bulgar wheat cooked in apple juice and spices (FS: wheat, dollop of applesauce, honey).
• Scotch eggs with braised cabbage (FS: cabbage, sausage, eggs)
• Tacos al Pastor, rice and beans (FS: tortillas, salsa, radishes, rice, black beans, lettuce, plus cilantro from garden)
• Caramelized Onion and Bacon Pasta with salad (FS: pasta plus parsley from garden)
• Wheatberry and Green Apple Salad (FS: wheatberries)
• Broccoli Cheddar Soup and salad (FS: broccoli, cheese, lettuce)
• Deviled Mushrooms and salad (FS: mushrooms and lettuce)
• Muffalettas (FS: foccacia)**
• Cabbage Roll Casserole (FS: cabbage, rice)

The last recipe is a keeper. LB returned home a few weeks ago with a "family cookbook." Apparently everyone (else) in the family sent in recipes and memories and photos, which were then bound into a cookbook. LB's mother has several recipes in there, which is funny because she mainly fries Oma*a Ste*ks or the occasional egg.

I've decided to work my way through it, a bit like Julie and Julia. Most of the recipes so far have involved miniature marshmallows, whipped topping, or minute rice.

Still, the Cabbage Roll Casserole is a good one. It's basically all the ingredients of cabbage rolls with none of the laborious preparation:

1 lb. ground round

1/2-1 head of cabbage, shredded

1 onion diced

1/2 c. uncooked rice (or 1 bag of minute rice)

1 can tomato soup

1/2 c. water

salt and pepper to taste.

Spread half of cabbage in a 2 qt. casserole dish (I used a 3 qt. one). Brown meat in frying pan. Add onion and cook until limp. Drain. Add rice and blend. Spread meat mixture over cabbage. Cover with the rest of the cabbage. Mix soup and water. Pour over the top. Cover and cook in 375 oven for 1-1 1/2 hours. Stir before serving.

Braised cabbage is even easier. Cut a wedge of cabbage and saute it (without separatating--the goal is a wedge with browned sides) in some oil with some onion, salt, and pepper. Seriously delish.

____________

**Jesus, I wish they'd give up on these things. They bear no resemblance to pizza crust or foccacia. They're bulbous, and pasty, and I can't even imagine how nasty a pizza they would make. My solution is to stuff them full of tapenade and spicy meats, grease them up, and slam then in the grill press. We'll see how it works.