Cabbage Roll Casserole

When I first came across this recipe on Recipezaar I was hesitant. I didn't want to make a glorified sauerkraut! But after reading it through, it's much less cabbage roll and much more hearty stew...and what a nice deviation from the usual Italian sausage and peppers! Don't let the long ingredient list scare you - because this is a crockpot recipe, it's very easy! I use homemade chicken stock and just a pound of sausage to help lower the overall cost. I also used canned diced tomatoes to save time. This is great served in a bread bowl!

Cabbage Roll Casserole

serves 6
Ingredients:
1-1 1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage
2 large potatoes, peeled
2 onions, chopped
4 carrots, sliced
10 ounces chicken stock
1 large can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 Tbsp dried dill, or 2 Tbsps fresh dill
1/2 tsp caraway seed
1/2 tsp celery seed
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 cups cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/4 cup fresh parsley coarsely chopped, or 2 Tbsp dried parsley
1-2 Tbsp minced garlic

Directions:

1. Discard the casings from sausage; cut into bite-size pieces.
2. In a large skillet, brown the sausage over med-high heat; drain off any fat, and transfer sausage to crock pot.
3. Meanwhile, peel potatoes, grate one potato, and dice the other potato.
4. Add the potatoes to the crock pot, along with onions, garlic, carrots, chicken stock, tomatoes, dill, caraway seed, celery seeds, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
5. Cover crock pot and cook on LOW heat for 7-1/2 hours.
6. After the 7 hours of cooking, add in the cabbage, parsley and butter, pushing the cabbage down into the liquid; cook for another 30-60 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

Total Cost:

Sausage - $1.99
Potatoes - $0.30
Onions - $0.43
Carrots - $0.40
Chicken stock - FREE!
Cabbage - $0.45
Butter - $0.55
Spices and seasonings - appx $0.15

Grand Total: $4.28, or $0.71 per serving!