As I mentioned in my last post, Jesse and I had fairly minimal cooking skills up until the last few years. Thankfully we have been able to find and create some great quick, one pot meals to replace the Hamburger Helper! We also purchased new furniture and the camo couch was forced to live in the "man cave". I may or may not have taken over that space as my home office a short time later.... Poor Jesse.

Ground Beef Cabbage Skillet is one of our go-to recipes because it's quick, easy and basically impossible to screw up. I'm not much of a recipe follower... mainly because I get bored with the tedious details of exact measurements, hate dirtying 10 measuring spoons, and have discovered for the most part, exact measurements in dishes like this don't matter!

Here's my recipe:

1 pound ground beef (obviously I recommend our grass-fed Scottish Highland beef)
1/2 head of cabbage
1 onion
1-2 peppers, any color would be great. Add a couple hot peppers if that's your thing!
1-2 cloves of garlic
2-3 chopped tomatoes or a can of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce or 1-2 small cans tomato paste.
Salt and Black Pepper

The best thing about this recipe is that it's super flexible. Don't have any peppers, garlic or tomatoes? Leave any or all of those out and it will still turn out just fine. Want to experiment with additional spices or ingredients, go for it! This is easy to customize.

If you're on the fence about whether you even like cabbage - give this a chance. Cabbage is not my favorite, but I love this dish!

Step 1 - brown ground beef in a skillet (I prefer cast iron). Add diced onions and peppers so they soften as the beef cooks. If there's any extra fat, drain it off.

Step 2 - Add diced garlic and cabbage. Allow to cook for just a couple minutes then add tomato sauce or paste along with salt and pepper. Start with one can of paste then if you need more tomato flavor, add the second. If using tomato paste, you'll need to add about 1/3 cup of water.

Step 3 - Stir everything together and cover with a lid. Allow to cook for around 20-25 minutes to allow cabbage to soften. Stir once in awhile and if it's starting to stick add around 1/4 cup of water. How much water you'll need to add depends on the veggies included. Tomatoes and peppers give off lots of liquid, so watch closely if you've left them out!

Step 4 - if there's any extra liquid left, simmer for a few minutes with the lid off.

You're ready to eat! It's delicious on its own, with a dollop of sour cream or some shredded cheese. Leftovers are excellent reheated the next day.

Have any ideas for other ingredients that would make it even better??

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Enjoy!

Dana

When Jesse and I first met, he invited me over for dinner at his place. He was a 20 year old bachelor so my expectations were not high. We ate Hamburger Helper and green beans in the romantic setting of his singlewide trailer in rural Highland County. I think we also watched the hunting channel sitting on his camouflage couch. I wish I was joking. Anyway.... I laugh at this memory, but honestly my cooking skills weren't much better.

We've come a long way since our days in the singlewide! I still hesitate to share with you what our meals around here are really like. I feel like there's a lot of pressure when you're a farmer selling a high quality product to be some sort of gourmet cook. The truth is - we eat well, but it's nothing fancy!

Jesse and I both work off farm jobs in addition to our family and farm responsibilities, so we are just normal working parents in survival mode most days. I love to cook a huge feast (especially with my Mama and Sister in the kitchen with me), but 99% of the time that just isn't practical. By 6pm the toddler is circling us, and if food isn't in her belly by 6:30 there's some serious drama happening. To avoid hangry toddler mode and still have enough time for evening chores, we create simple meals with high quality, locally grown ingredients.

We hope you will join us on our journey to drama free dinners! Meals are built around our pasture-raised meats and as much locally grown produce as possible. We focus on real food for real people requiring minimal effort, no weird spices or ingredients you'll only use once, using foods you can feel good about feeding your family. If we can make the change from Hamburger Helper to cooking with real foods, so can you!

Click the link below to sign up for email updates so you don't miss a blog post, recipe or story from the farm!

I'm in!

From our kitchen to yours, Happy Cooking!

Dana

Ground Beef and Cabbage Skillet

Hamburger Helper in the Singlewide