Home Cooking Polish Goodness

I had a fantastic weekend in spite of all of the rain. Friday evening was a Girl's night out at the Vintage Bistro. Sunday was a day at Parlee Beach visiting a friend who was camping there. Sun and bonfire. Perfect. And Saturday I had lunch at the Polish Restaurant in Hammond River.

I love this place. I don't go often but when I do I'm always overjoyed with their home cooked goodness.  Usually I get the perogies but this weekend I decided to go with the cabbage roll, a staple in our home when I was growing up. And it did not disappoint. Rice, meat and seasoning all bundled up perfectly in a cabbage leaf with some tomato sauce over it. Yum! Similar to mom's and just as good.

Served up by the friendliest man you could ever meet. What a beautiful smile. You feel like you are at home sitting down to a family dinner.

And not to forget the view. Perfect location, inviting service, and marvelous food. What's not to like?

Tammy
One of The Girls

Cabbage Rolls - Mediterranean Couscous Style

I love my comfort foods. Who doesn't? I also have a lot of them. Some even healthy.

Every time I go home to visit my parents mom asks what I would like for her to cook. That's easy. Cabbage casserole or cabbage roles!

I have a rule of thumb in my house: never try to do what mom did exactly. It won't be as good as you remember. So I make what is familiar but with a twist. And with maintaining a meat free kitchen twists come in lots of interesting ways. Like couscous making up the meatiness of a roll.

I found this recipe for Mediterranean Couscous Cabbage rolls: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/mediterranean_cabbage_rolls.html. The smells from the kitchen have been making me drool in anticipation.

Olives, feta, mint and cinnamon. Sounds like delish to me. I had to make some amendments as I made a few mistakes when getting groceries. I got 4 tomatoes...when I needed 4 cups chopped. Whoops! Good think I had a can of diced tomatoes on hand. I also ran out of sugar so used honey instead. And then also forgot to get ground cinnamon so tossed two cinnamon sticks in instead. Fingers were crossed!

And the result was definitely flavorful! Yum yum!