Game day is right around the corner – will you be celebrating? I grew up eating this meal of Pigs in a Blanket frequently. And although I eat very few of the same meals now than I did growing up,  every once in a while I reminisce for meals that bring back memories of being a child. Plus it’s fun to share what I ate as a kid with  my girls.

As a child, we ate Pigs in a Blanket quite often. I had forgotten about them until we had a large head of cabbage that needed to be used back when we were spending a year in Uruguay. When I suggested making Pigs in a Blanket, Brian assumed I was talking about the hotdog version so he was confused (since I didn’t eat hot dogs back then).

I was looking through pictures and remembered making this meal, so I wanted to share this childhood recipe with you today. I thought it would be a perfect Superbowl recipe!

Keep in mind that it takes a bit of time and work to make this recipe, but Pigs in a Blanket are tasty and the recipe makes a large portion of food, so it’s great for a game day pot luck or any night you want a meal that will yield leftovers.

Pigs in a Blanket (Stuffed Cabbage) Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 pounds grassfed ground beef
• 2 cloves organic garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon Real salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 cups white rice, cooked and cooled
• 1 large head of cabbage
• 5-6 large organic tomatoes, peeled and crushed
• 4 cups homemade chicken broth
• Extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 325° F.
2. Coat a cake or roasting pan with extra virgin olive oil and set aside (I like to use these covered pans from Good Cook so you can take this meal on the go to a party).
3. In large pot of boiling water, wilt the head of cabbage for approximately 5 minutes.
4. Remove the head of cabbage from the pan, cool slightly and separate leaves, being sure you don’t break the leaves.
5. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, cooked rice, garlic, salt, paprika, cumin, oregano and pepper.
6. Form 3-inch balls from your mixture.
7. Place a meatball into a cabbage leaf and fold the leaf around the ball, then put it into a roasting pan, folded side down.
8. Repeat this process until all of the meat filling is used up.
9. Pour the crushed tomatoes over the cabbage rolls, then pour the chicken broth over the tomato-topped rolls.
10. Cover your roasting pan and bake for 2 hours, or until the cabbage is tender.
11. Enjoy!

Tips and Modifications

1. Instead of or in addition to the crushed tomatoes, you can top the rolls with hot sauce and/or grated cheese.
2. You can also swap a teaspoon of basil and ½ teaspoon of rosemary for the cumin if you’d like an Italian flavor; then top with parmesan cheese and/or ketchup.

Game Day Good Cook Discount

In honor of the upcoming Super Bowl, Good Cook is offering my readers a 20% discount on any goodcook.com purchase with promo code BigGame48! So you can pick up a covered cake pan to take your recipe along!

What is your favorite game day recipe?