An Italian Making Golumpki - WHAT!

We have a tradition in our house, I think I mentioned this before, that the birthday person gets to pick the meal that will be served for dinner and they get to pick what kind of cake they want.  My oldest, who's birthday is in September, always wants Golumpkis.  Golumpki, Go wompki, Golabki, however you pronounce them or spell them, are delicious.  I was taught how to make these by her Polish grandmother many years ago.   They are a little time consuming, but well worth it because they're good.  One head of cabbage makes alot, so if you can't eat all of them, freeze them in a baking dish and serve at a later time.  Everything is in them, vegetable, meat and rice, so the only thing I would serve with them is a big salad and some warm bread.  Smacznego!  (Enjoy your meal!  - in Polish)

Cutting the core out of the cabbage and into a pot of salted water.

Cook the rice.

Pull the steamed leaves off of the cabbage head.  Cutting the vein off.

The meat and rice mixture.

Getting ready to roll! 

Stack them in the baking dish..... 

And uumm uumm GOOD! 

Golumpkis

Ingredients

Cooking Spray

3 - 10 1/4 oz. cans of Campbells Tomato Soup

1 - 8 oz. can of Hunt's Tomato Sauce

1 large head of green cabbage

2 tsp. salt

2 lbs of ground beef, uncooked

2 1/2 cups of white rice, cooked

1/4 cup of  bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup of minced onion

1 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Spray a  9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray.  Mix 2 1/2 cans of the soup and the tomato sauce with 1 can of water.  Pour 1 cup of soup mixture into the baking dish. Core the cabbage by cutting out the stem on the bottom.  Using a pot big enough to hold the cabbage, put in enough water to fill it halfway.  Add the 2 tsp. salt and put the cabbage in, cover with a lid.  Cook on medium high heat until it starts to boil.  Lower the heat to medium. As the leaves steam inside the pot, pull them off and place in a large bowl.

Meanwhile, mix the ground beef, cooked rice, bacon, eggs, onion, garlic powder, salt, pepper and remaining 1/2 can of tomato soup.  Prepare the leaves by thinning out the large vein at the bottom of the leaf with a sharp knife. Take about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture and put to one edge and spread it out to fill the leaf.  Depending on the size of the leaf, some are larger than others, the amount of meat mixture to put in the leaves will vary.  Roll up the leaf starting at that edge and tuck in the sides as you roll.  Layer the Golumpkis, rolled side down, in the bottom of the baking dish.  Pour the soup mixture over the top. Cover with foil,  place on a cookie sheet so it doesn't spill over.  Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, basting with soup mixture in the pan every 30 minutes.  Take the foil off the baking dish for the last 15 minutes of baking.