Dinner & Dessert

I started yesterday morning with a gnarly headache. Probably something to do with going from triple digit temps to 60's in a week's span. I was going to cancel my plans and wallow in the misery of my headache but I decided to force myself to get up and go. I'm glad I did. Since my Farmer's Market wasn't held Saturday due to the Rod Run I located two Sunday Farmer's Markets not too far away I really wanted to check out.

Verdict: No where near as cool as my Farmers Market but I did pick up a few things for the week including a scary good bag of locally grown macadamia nuts. Thankfully it is a small bag because like I said... scary good. My haul: Onions, Cabbage, Cucumbers, Pears, Apples, Macadamia Nuts and the World's Biggest Grapes at least I think they are... they are HUGE 50-cent piece size.

While I was out I took a bunch of deep breaths of fresh air and by the time I got home my headache had subsided. Happy I didn't let the headache take me over or I wouldn't have bought the cabbage that became this yummy Sunday dinner...


Shelly's Cabbage Rolls

3/4 lb. Ground Turkey, Chicken, or Beef (about 1/2 a package)
1 Yellow Onion, diced
4 Green Onions, diced
6 Mushrooms, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Garlic, crushed
1 Tablespoon Sherry (do not skip alcohol cooks away)
2 Tablespoons Cashews, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Salt (in boiling water)
6-8 Cabbage Leaves (I always throw an extra in just in case one tears)

1 1/2 cups Tomato Sauce (I used the homemade I froze the other day)

Remove core from cabbage, discard dark raggy outer leaves. Gently peel away 6-8 leaves. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add cabbage leaves. Cook 5 minutes. Drain and set side.

Saute onions and mushrooms till golden. Add turkey. Use a wooden spoon to break up meat. Cook meat till no pink is seen. Add garlic, sherry, cashews, and seasonings.

Spoon 1/2 the tomato sauce into a Pyrex casserole dish. Set aside. Spoon some meat filling in the center of each cabbage leaf and roll up the cabbage to enclose the filling like a burrito. Place the cabbage rolls side by side in rows, seam-side down, in the tomato sauced casserole dish.

Spoon the remaining sauce on top of the rolls. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.


and for dessert...



Shelly's Roasted Pears with Sweetened Ricotta and Caramel


I ate dessert while watching my favorite show "The Amazing Race." Would have been perfect except my favorite team was DQ'd. They came in first this week only to discover they had lost a passport. A cardinal no-no on the race. Disqualified. Disappointing. Teams I'm pulling for now: The Harlem Globetrotters, the SoCal couple Meghan and Cheyne and the Dad and his pink haired son.