Our New Year Meal

Well, the only pictures I got of our New's Year's day was me cooking. We invited some friends over and had a big lunch. Instead of the typical Ham, Cabbage and Blackeyed Peas that is typical here in the South, I decided to do something different. I decided to make some Eastern European food. Since the food takes some time to make, we don't have it very often. The kids usually request it on their birthdays but today I decided to surprise them and make Cabbage Rolls, Hungarian Paprika Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Pumpernickel Bread, Shopska Salad, Pasta Salad and My Garlic Green Beans. Homemade Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Pecan Pie finished off the meal. Wished you could have been here to help us eat it! I love cooking and can't wait until I get my new kitchen to do more of it. This crew is always hungry!

I totally forgot to put on makeup today. Oh well, now you have seen me at my worst. Keep your eyes on the food! Here I am making the meat that goes into the cabbage rolls. It is amixture of spices, Ground beef, spicy sausage, and rice. You roll them into little logs and place in the fridge for a while. You can either fry them in a pan ,broil them or put them on the grill. I put them on a grill. You do not want to cook them all the way through. Only enough to seal in the juices.

The next step is to peel cabbage leaves off of a head and drench them for a minute in boiling water to make them flimsy. Set them aside.

Then next step is to get a jar of good Sauerkraut and spread it out in the bottom of the pan you are using.

Take the little sausages and roll them in the leaves and place in the pan on top of the Kraut

Make up a tomato sauce with Tomato paste, Diced tomatoes, water, paprika, salt and garlic and pour over the cabbage rolls. Bake in 375-400F oven for 30 minutes. Cut one inmiddle to make sure they are done. Serve hot and top with sour cream. Yummy!

I totally forgot to take pics of the Paprika Chicken and Shopska Salad but it was yummy as well!