Cabbage Casserole
You know, these catchy, funny blog post titles pop into my deranged mind, and I sit at my desk and laugh about them. Then I type the title into the Title Bar, laugh some more, and then I think of how you will certainly know I’m out of my mind and stop reading my posts. Besides, it’s too hard to do a search for my Cabbage Casserole recipe if the title is “GOT GAS?”!
As my dear, tiny, Great Grandmother Addie used to say to LilSis and me while we grandma-sat her on Wednesday nights, “There’s more room on the outside than there is on the inside.”
Why in the world would she say that to two innocent darlings? Well, because one of us was not so innocent. Great Grandmother had her special chair, and the couch we sat on while watching “Green Acres” and “Lost in Space” was behind her and to the right. One evening, I decided to try out my new fart noise I’d learned at school that day–the one where you place your palm flat against your mouth and blow. Hey, it was cool and it sounded like the real deal, kind of like after you’d had a good batch of cabbage casserole. GG Addie, being hard of hearing, snapped her face to the right, cut her eyes at us and said, “Sounds like SOMEBODY needs the slop jar.”
Oh my gosh, LilSis and I about bust a gut laughing at what she said. This was in the seventies, and how long had slop jars been out of existence at that point? She was almost 90 at the time, and I’m sure she hadn’t used one of those in FOREVER!
Alas, there’s a lot of wisdom in those words about more room on the outside than on the inside, especially at this time of year when the Landry’s garden produces beautiful green goodness like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. Last night while I sat in my spot at a televised parish board meeting, the green gases rumbling around in my lower unit, I smiled when I thought about her words, even though I was mortified that these gases might make their TV debut. As the Cajuns say, “Poo-yie!”
My mom, Donna, was neither a bayou person nor a Cajun, but somewhere along the way, she found this recipe for cabbage casserole. It’s so easy, that if you like cabbage and want a new way to cook it, then shame on you if you don’t try this one out.
Cabbage Casserole
- 1 medium head of cabbage
- 1 medium onion
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 can tomato soup
- 1/2 soup can of water
- Salt and Pepper
- Preheat Oven to 300 degrees.
- Brown the beef and onion in heavy skillet, then drain.
- Add salt and pepper.
- Cut cabbage into bite-size pieces
- Heat soup and water in saucepan.
- Layer cabbage and beef in a deep casserole dish.
- Pour soup over top of cabbage and meat.
- Cover and bake 60-70 minutes.
For New Year’s Day, I served with black-eyed peas and cornbread.
So, here are the photos!
This is Mr. Landry’s French Garden, see the little sign? That says Chinese Cabbage, and that is what I used in my recipe (although the recipe calls for regular cabbage).
Isn’t the Landry’s Chinese cabbage beautiful?
Brown the meat and onions.
Bite-size pieces of cabbage in bottom of casserole dish.
Cabbage Casserole, layered, with soup over the top ready for the oven.
Cabbage Casserole done and ready to eat! Yum!
So, for an easy, economical, healthy and delicious meal, head on out and grab yourself a head of cabbage!
But just remember, “There’s more room on the outside than on the inside.”
Poo-yie!
BW
Thanks for the laugh this morning! 🙂 The recipe sounds good. I will have to try it.
That does look good, but I’m thinking some steamed rice needs to be on or near it.
I’ve got a recipe that is very much like BW’s and it does have rice cooked in it.
That would be “deconstructed” cabbage rolls!
That’s probably why I like it. All the flavor of a cabbage roll but without as much work. LOL Looked at your recipe again. Mine doesn’t use soup, it has a kick to it using Rotel.
I have a recipe like this too but, it is fixed in the crockpot and I love it! The only thing different is I use V8 instead of the tomato soup. We call it Lazy Mans Stuffed Cabbage.
And you are right, the tummy does make a few noises when we eat it. That’s why I keep a huge supply of generic GasX! Oh, I have sprinkled the top with with crushed up Ritz crackers too.
“And you are right, the tummy does make a few noises when we eat it. That’s why I keep a huge supply of generic GasX!”
That like having a new Ferrari and driving the speed limit, wheres the fun, adventure, the bragging rights? OMG my eyes are watering, LOOK that curled the paint off the baseboards! Ethyl, quick call the neighbors see if it reached their house yet! Mom, why is the dog howling so loud and scratching at the back door so wildly?
Ok, sorry, I’ll behave. I just get carried away sometimes.
🙂 🙂
Is that a smile or is it just gas?
We have regular cabbage growing in our winter garden and that sounds like a good recipe to try. We also have broccoli and cauliflower growing.
Oh goodie! Try it and let us know how you like it! It’s just so easy, how can you not give it a shot since you have fresh cabbage right there? Enjoy!
THE CASSEROLE REALLY SOUNDS GOOD. I HAVE IBS AND I HAVE PROBLEMS WITH MY INSIDES TALKING. WE COULD KEEP BEANO ON HAND. HUH? GOOD LAUGH AND I THINK YOU ARE A CROSS BETWEEN JUSTIN WILSON AND RAY STEVENS. I ENJOYED GOING BACK AND READING THE STORY OF YOU LIFE AND A REALITY SHOW OF REAL CAJUN LIFE WOULD BE VERY INTERESTING FROM A NATIVE AMERICAN STANDPOINT TOO
.
Thanks for taking the time to go back and read the story. I’m way overdue for another chapter, but the “umph” just hasn’t hit me yet. When it’s right, I’ll know it! I think Swamp People is about as close as they’re going to get, but I did suggest a documentary series on real life bayou/native peoples. I think our lives here are very, very interesting, without all the made-up drama!!! So many things are other worldly here, too, and many Americans have no idea of our way of life and culture! Thanks for that vote! BW
Sounds like some homestyle “comfort food”…FYI, the “Chou Chinois” is what the Chinese call “Bok Choy” – it’s used for many dishes, especially soups & stews. It has become common in “regular” grocery stores now.
Yes sir, that is correct, as usual. Bok Choy is one of my favorite Asian greens!!!
As it happens…on closer inspection, that’s not quite Bok Choy…it’s the wider leafed, milder flavour (“Nappa Cabbage” in English stores – though that comes from Japanese for “leafy vegetable”) sometimes known in Chinese as “Won bok” or more correctly “Daai Bok Choy”.
I’ve been hoping for a new post while getting over the Flu, but this one just made me hurt. I laughed so hard, I had a coughing spell which left me hurting. Thanks!
I’ll probably try this recipe soon. I’ve got a head of cabbage left over from last week.
So happy to provide you comic relief from you flu but so sorry I made you cough up a gut, lol! Let me know how you like it and how you tweaked it, because I KNOW you will!
This looks delicious. Don’t care about poo-yi when it comes to cabbage, just open the window, LOL.
Hi Kittie and welcome to the bayou! Thanks for stopping by and visiting with us. At least the smell of this casserole cooking doesn’t stink up the whole house like some cabbage recipes do! It’s nice to have you here! BW
Believe it or not, that’s exactly the recipe my mom used to use for cabbage casserole, except (there’s always an “except” she added bell pepper to the onion and meat and some cooked rice if she had it.
Not only that, I finally figured out that the potato/pork/veal sausage my Swedish grandmother used to make is very similar to boudin blanc. Amazing. Potatoes instead of rice, of course, but much the same. Regional cuisines can be so different, but some combinations just taste so good everyone wants in on the action – like your cabbage casserole!
Hm. Makes me wonder what the Danes have that would be similar to boudin blanc or the Swedish dish. Does it have a name?
It not only has a name (potatis korv) it has a recipe, which you can find here. In the family, we just called it potato bologna (although we pronounced it “baloney”!)
My favorite cabbage recipe is more demanding so I think i will have to try this one. My mom always made up something along those lines of cabbage, ground beef, and soup then made dough (like frybread) and put scoops of the mixture on dough circles and made it into meat pies. She usually baked them in the oven.
May I distribute your recipe next month to our clients? We give out in the commodity package the hamburger, cabbage, onions and tomato soup so it would be easy, cost effective and use a produce item in a new way.
Oh absolutely! And I don’t think my (dearly departed) mom would mind if you called it Bayou Woman Cabbage Casserole. It’s a great recipe to go along with commodities and so glad you thought of it
So funny Wendy! And that does look yummy!
Hey Monica! Did your mom cook some version of this???
Well regular bok choy has darker leaves and is a powerhouse of intestinal gassing. Of course if you are maintaining a high fiber diet gas isn’t an issue. 2 tablespoons of chia in your yogurt, ok.
Yep sorta a lazy cabbage roll thing. I make cabbage Jambalaya a lot and been pondering using the chinese cabbage since a lot of the time it looks really good at market.
Mrs Coach, sounds like pierogues which if I could spell it correctly are not coonass canoes.
My buddy Joe makes killer cabbage rolls . I’ll ask him when next time is. Think 2 turkey roasters full.
Found a motherload of Sacaulait but mother nature is trying to end my fishing for them.
Blu, you are making me hungry. I have been craving some good, fried fish. I can taste the cornmeal breading on them already. And I made shrimp and oyster gumbo for dinner tonight. You would think that would have taken care of that fish craving.:)
Cammy? Are you kidding? There’s NO WAY gumbo can curb a craving for some good FRIED crappie!!!!! Shrimp and oysters are good, but it’s apples and oranges, lol!!
Got my fried fish tonight. Had to cheat though and went to the fast food drive thru for it.:)
FYI, 36 10 inch crappie filleted cooked 5 sides at a time in the fry daddy takes an hour. I think next ones are getting breaded in one bag Andy’s Red and one packet from walmart chicken coating mix mixed. I ran out of one bag of Andy’s and had some chick mix open so…. rest will be history.
Blu – that would be p i r o g u e. And please do tell us why they are NOT Cajun Canoes? (other than the bottom being flat?)
pierogues are a pasta bread filled dumpling, Dumpling.
think Polish ravioli sorta.
pirogues is boats.
Just saw the Oscar nominations. “Beasts of the Southern Wild” got nominated for Best Film. Hooray! And here’s an amazing fact. The first day of shooting was the day Deepwater Horizon exploded, which means I was right there “on location” (more or less) while the film was being made. I think this may call for explorations. 😉
Best Film? That’s pretty amazing, as I never realized that it went “big” all over America! You were here when the spill happened, right? Or were you closer to the spill? Refresh memories, please.
Crazy thing is it was such a small, low-budget film, they were asking for help for places to stay, people to feed them! They were looking for people with boats to come help out. They wanted to rent my pontoon boat and let someone else run it, and I said “NO WAY”. My liability doesn’t cover someone else at the wheel. Besides, I would have not charged for my services–just for the rental, because it would have been a good experience. Alas, I ultimately missed out. 🙁
Why is it the winter garden plants have so much hydrogen sulfide? Cabbage, Broccoli, Mustard/collard/turnip greens, Cauliflower (I was gonna add turnips but it might just be I don’t like them. LOL)
Guess I am just old school, we boiled/steamed these veggies. I remember how excited I was when someone actually put ’em out raw with sour cream dip for a party. My goodness what would they think of next, then I left for college and met my first Piccadilly Cafeteria. They had ’em in a casserole and put CHEESE and crackers on top. The new world was full of wonders.
I do like cabbage rolls, we always had head cabbage. Rolled up venison with barley and onions, slow cooked in diced tomato, worcestershire, pinch of brown sugar & celery salt (all it needed was vodka to be a bloody mary). When Crockpots came out they were made for stuffed cabbages.
Gonna maybe try this tomorrow. Looks good and the fridge is starting to exibit an air of distinction from the left over new years cabbage. Its win win.
Somebody asked if I thought this could be made in the Crockpot. So, if anybody tries it (you, sir), let us know how you did it and how it turned out. I steamed fresh broccoli from their garden last week, and it was so delicious and even tasted different from the store-bought version. I never used to be a fan of steamed veggies, with just a little butter and salt, but oh my goodness, fresh out of the garden like that, they are just so good.
Ok, it was good. The head of cabbage I used worked well except it was so big that the leaf veins were so thick they were still tuff when everything else was perfectly cooked. The vension I used was extremely fat free. Worked well, was no grease at all. The barley, like rice soaks up all those good juices and flavors.
I didn’t have any V8 which I bet would have put it over the top, but soup was good too.
AND BW Mom’s secret, probably every other Mom’s also, was a small pinch of sugar when boiling/steaming any fresh green veggie (a bit of bacon or tasso too). You can’t taste the sugar, but you know if its not there. Try it and see if you don’t taste a difference you can’t put your finger on. All fresh green veggies and especially greens, brocoli and cabbage like just a pinch.
BTW you get any rain at your house lately?
I make it in the crockpot with V8. I cook it on low from about 8 am until about 5 pm. I cut up the cabbage like I would for slaw and have even used pre-packaged slaw mix for it. It tastes great.
Ha ha very funny on the rain question. We keep the pirogue tied to the porch, cher! Yes, I know the sugar secret. I put it in cabbage when I cook smothered cabbage. Something about it settling out the bitterness in other greens like mustard, turnip, etc. Thanks for sharing that with us, though!
OK, that sounds delicious! I’m going to try it tomorrow. Got all the ingredients on hand. Thanks, BW!
Well, that just really excites me! People all over the country this week will be making sure there is no gas shortage, lol! I’m glad you’re trying it. I hope you like it. It really is just so simply delicious.
That recipe sounds really good and like something I could get Hubby to eat. We’ve had cabbage rolls before and he liked them. This sounds pretty much the same and definitely easier to make.
I’d just have to call it something other than ‘Cabbage Casserole.’ He refuses to eat anything with ‘casserole’ in the name but will eat it if you call it something else. The things I have to do……. lol
The man is weird, food-wise. I think he was switched by at birth. By aliens.
Easy fix: Bayou Woman cabbage etoufee`. Mais, dere you have it!!!!
Oh made the family standard cabbage and kielbasa today to go with crappie. carrots onions and stuff added.
Mmmmm. Sounds good, Blu.
Totally off subject. BW,I wish you were here…I’ve got Satsumas falling on the ground rotting. We have eaten enough to ward off a cold for 2 years and given HUNDREDS away. We have NEVER had this many Satsumas. Does anyone know how to can them? I HATE seeing them go to waste.
Oh, I’m just reading this and wish I would have read it sooner, but Lil Sis is here. We could have planned a little trip to grab some from you. My friends, the Landrys, juice theirs with a cheap little electric juicer, strain the seeds out, and freeze it and it is DELICIOUS! I had some the other day. And then Foamheart emailed me a recipe for you. Did you get it? A Satsuma Pecan Pie? WOWZER!
Steffi, my husband would love them. You can make marmalade from them, juice them and freeze the juice, candy the peels, make orange curd, zest them and dry the zest for use in baking, make sorbet, cakes, cheesecakes, etc. Try the following link. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=420791
BW, I have the crockpot filled with the cabbage casserole and ready to pop into the heating element in the am. I used a half sausage, half ground beef mixture this time. I bought cabbage Sunday for it but, was given some napa cabbage today at the food bank so, I used it. Layered the cabbage, some left over spaghetti sauce, diced onions, 2 tablespoons of rice, then the meat mixture. I made two layers then poured a can of V8 over it. That is tomorrow nights dinner.:)
Thanks Cammy. I plan on checking the link when I have a few minutes.
Well, I’ll have to check again soon. The site is down right now.
Get to juicin’ honey!