Comfort Food Comfort Zone

I took a big leap out of my comfort zone when I made dinner the other night...and cooked with meat. Ground beef, to be exact. Although I tend to be pretty vegetarian in my eating and cooking habits, I decided to brave dealing with the meat when I saw a soup recipe (from Paula Deen, surprisingly) that's essentially a deconstructed version of Polish golambkis, or stuffed cabbage. 

Traditional golambkis are very labor intensive to make, with a beef and rice mixture stuffed burrito-like into a cabbage leaf and then slowly cooked in a tomato based sauce. This soup uses all of the same ingredients, but puts them together in an easier way. Canned tomatoes, onions, and carrots are simmered and pureed to made the soup base. Slices of cabbage are added in, along with small meatballs made out of ground beef and rice. The end result was delicious and, as it turned out, the meat was actually easier to handle than chopping the head of cabbage was. This is definitely going to be a new addition to my regular rotation of recipes.

It might not be the prettiest dish I've ever made, but comfort food is all about taste, not looks, right?

Update: I've just been informed by my mom that the correct spelling is actually golabki, no "m"! And in case anyone doesn't know, they're pronounced like "gwumpki".