Creamy Garlic Cabbage Rolls

Every year for our St. Patrick's Day meal we make Colcannon, but there's always extra cabbage left over needing to be used. We've tried tomato-sauce cabbage rolls before and weren't amazed by them, so this year we whipped up something different that turned out amazing!

For Creamy Garlic Cabbage Rolls you'll need:

• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 a red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 white or yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• 3 tbsp. green onion, chopped
• 1 slice of bacon per cabbage roll (5 – 6 for ½ pound pork)
• 1 medium head cabbage
• salt and pepper
• Progresso Garlic Recipe Starter (or any savory, garlic flavored cream-based sauce you prefer!)

We've been having a bunch of meals with Progresso's Recipe Starters lately (the basil one is also great), but unfortunately that's now coming to an end. The company just decided to switch its packaging from an 18 oz. can to a 9 oz. pouch - for about the same price! Since we're not keen on spending the same amount of money for half the sauce, we'll have to try making our own version for an upcoming blog.

For the rolls, first mix together the ground pork with all the vegetables (except the cabbage) and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in your preferred style of rice, but be sure to leave it uncooked - it will cook and plump up in the oven!

Carefully pull the top layer off the cabbage so you have one solid, unbroken piece. Repeat this process as many times for as many rolls you want to make. For only 1/2 pound of ground pork you'll get about 5 - 6, while for a full pound of pork you'll probably need between 10 - 12.

Place the cabbage layers into a pot of boiling water until they are softened, about 10 minutes. Carefully pull them out with tongs so they don't rip. Set a boiled piece of cabbage down and put a large spoonful of the pork mixture onto one side.

Grip the bottom edge of the cabbage and then roll it forward until you have something roughly egg roll shaped.

To make these more exciting (and hold them together without using toothpicks), we're going to wrap each roll in a piece of bacon!

Pour some of the recipe starter into the bottom of an oven-safe dish and then arrange each roll in the dish.

Pour the remainder of the garlic sauce on top and add any extra pepper you may want. You could also grate on a cheese such as Parmesan.

About an hour later in a 350 degree oven and you've got firm-yet-tender rolls wrapped in delicious bacon and topped in amazing savory sauce! Enjoy!

These are awesome as-is, but you could easily swap out the fillings with any number of meats (ground chicken would be great), veggies (try shredded carrots or broccoli!), and cheeses.