This beet, walnut, and gorgonzola salad is intriguing me, and might be even yummier without bothering with the greens
::hurk::
Oh, man, do I love beets. Outside of the obvious beet dishes, there’s one for a rösti (basically hash browns) made with beets and rosemary I absolute adore. Full recipe here. Hell, I’d say it’s better than regular hashed browned potatoes.
I did not burn the cabbage rolls, mostly. They came out well.
I do not know the difference between “sour” cabbage and all others. Had never heard of such a thing until this thread. I just have a ton of CSA cabbage in my fridge & was desperate to use at least some of it. Then we got three more heads (though smaller ones) last night. I’m not sure what to do with myself.
I also made zucchini bread yesterday. It was tasty, but didn’t rise as much as normal. I was experimenting with shredding the zucchini, then freezing it, then thawing & baking. I have another batch’s worth of zucchini in the freezer, to test if the issue is the freezing. If so, I’m going to be grumpy. Because I also have zucchini coming out my ears, and we’re not eating at home until Saturday, and then on Sunday the guy is gone for 10 days or so (and we get another CSA delivery next Monday).
Sour cabbage are the whole heads of cabbage tossed into the barrel when making sauerkraut. At least that’s what Grandma tells me they did on the farm. 
You can buy them in the vegetable section here, near the regular cabbage, all wrapped in plastic. When you open it, you do it over the sink so you don’t get the juice everywhere and because the cabbage has been in the juice you don’t need to boil it to be able to wrap the cabbage rolls (though you may need to trim the stems(?) to make a neater roll that won’t fall apart). Makes a nice sour cabbage roll, which can be simulated somewhat by buying pre-prepared cabbage rolls and cooking with sauerkraut overtop. We also do lazy cabbage rolls which are simply layered rice, sauerkraut, tomato sauce, salt and pepper and a slice or two of bacon on top to impart flavour. Mmm maybe I’ll go buy some sauerkraut and make that.
I steamed the beets for 20 minutes in the microwave (well, some of them) and had them with a little horseradish sauce - the horseradish wouldn’t have occurred to me, but it really does compliment them. Think I’m going to add a cheese sandwich and call it dinner.
Chefguy I take it you don’t like beets? 
I had some cinnamon bread I needed to use up so I made French toast casserole.
Tear up the bread into bite sized pieces and toss it into a greased 9x13 pan.
Brown up some sausage links, then cut them into bite sized pieces and add to bread.
Whisk together 2 cups milk and 4 eggs, add vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg to milk mixture to taste.
Pour milk mixture over bread, sprinkle top with some brown sugar and drizzle with maple syrup. Add pecans and raisins if you like.
Bake @ 350 for about 45 minutes.
Cabbage keeps in the refrigerator for a long time.
I am really glad to hear that, needscoffee.
Thanks for the explanation, Flutterby. I guess I have never had sour cabbage, then.
When I decided to make cabbage rolls, I couldn’t find a recipe in my cookbooks (seriously - what the hell). I found a “stuffed cabbage leaves” recipe, but it had no meat or tomato sauce. So I came here and looked. Found a tip that said, instead of boiling the cabbage, freeze the head & thaw it to make the leaves flexible. That worked really well.
I think I am making myself a pork chop tonight. Possibly with some small amount of potatoes and broccoli.
I don’t suppose you could point me to that stuffed cabbage roll recipe that doesn’t use tomatoes? I’m allergic to the darn things, so I’m always looking for tomatoless recipes.
I’m going to make “flat chicken”.
Take a 5-6lb chicken, cut the backbone out, open like a book - cuz it’s fun.
Mix up 2 TBS lemon juice, 2 TBS olive oil, 2 TBS fresh chopped rosemary, 2 minced garlic cloves and pour over.
Cover with plastic wrap and let that baby sit overnight in the fridge.
(wait for it…)
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Salt and pepper the chicken.
Put the flat chicken skin side down in a hot cast iron pan with 2 TBS olive oil. Cook on medium heat for 7 minutes. No touching!!
Chicken isn’t flat enough.
Put a brick wrapped in foil on top.
Put chicken in oven for 30 minutes.
Take brick off (carefully).
Flip chicken over.
Put brick back on.
Cook for another 15 minutes or until you poke the leg and the juice is clear.
Take it out and sprinkle 2 TBS lemon juice and as much red pepper flakes as you like.
Done.
Aw, curse you ridiculously narrow edit window! That should be 3-4 lb chicken.
Just give Jim a time and a location and he’d probably be glad to take some off your hands.
What a great idea! I’ve never had them, but it sounds really tasty (I love sauerkraut).
Tonight is hamburger, rice, and broccoli casserole. I’ve substituted red pepper cream cheese for the cheddar cheese on top, and we’ll see how that comes out. Two things I noted today - onions sautéing in margarine smell HEAVENLY, and red pepper cream cheese tastes amazing.
I went to the grocery store today with the aim of simply replenishing a few of my everyday staples (bananas, Greek yogurt, cheddar cheese. I’m pretty boring). In the bread section, however, they had a mini loaf of rosemary olive-oil bread. This is somewhat special–they’re usually out when I go on the weekends–but it was made even better by being already sliced. I hate slicing bread. I end up with wedges.
So I picked it up. I also picked up some chicken breast tenderloins, and some lemon, and some fresh rosemary. So I do believe my sandwich of choice this week is going to be grilled chicken tenders on rosemary olive oil bread. With the tenders marinaded in my I-always-use-it combination of olive oil, honey, lemon, and rosemary. And with a half slice of havarti. Nom.
Today, though, I might go to Red Lobster. It’s really hot out, and the air conditioner’s being wonky, so I’m not sure about using the stove. Also, they have snow crab. I just discovered last month that crab is delicious. And I don’t care if it’s Red Lobster; I’m in Illinois. That’s close enough.
Pasta with spinach, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes and red pepper flakes.
Finished with a splash of white wine and a pat of butter for yumminess.
Sprinkle some asiago cheese and serve with warm italian bread with parsleyed butter.
With a glass of wine…divine.
Lol, we’ll see. I can usually share some with the extended family and I keep working on getting velociraptor to eat them. 
It is pretty tasty, but like I said most regular cabbage rolls just taste odd to me because I’m used to the sour, and I’ve had plenty that people tell me are absolutely wonderful.
I haven’t made anything lately, it’s the long weekend I should make something tasty. We picked up some chickens at Costco when we were there last, maybe I should defrost and make a roast chicken.. Hmmm.
Making some tabouleh today. Last night was shrimp marinated in passion fruit vinegar and grilled and served on a bed of greens. The passion fruit vinegar is made with sugar and balsamic, so it makes for a nice glaze.
Bacon jam. The house smells amazing, and the dogs are going nuts.
Yesterday we went to the farmers market and got some beef from a local producer, and got salad fixings and ended up getting some corn (the corn sadly is not local, that’s a couple weeks out yet but we are definitely going to the festival!). Made some delicious hamburgers but had so many we’ll be eating them tonight. That gives more time for that chicken to thaw though, and since it’s so warm I think I will just try and cook it in the crockpot.
I’m going out this afternoon and going to see if I can find a new burner for the BBQ the neighbor gave me, maybe soon I’ll be able to try BBQing food. Mmm.
I’m currently marinating a hunk of pork butt for Caucasus-Style Braised Pork Shoulder. (Judging by the combo of seasonings, probably Georgian.) Haven’t decided whether to do the first round of braising tonight, or maybe tomorrow night.
Tonight’s dinner will be chicken breast pounded thin, then rolled up with provolone and prosciutto and baked. Haven’t decided which veggies yet.