..: Hand Grenades

My great grandfather (on my mom's paternal side) was what I guess you could classify as a "character". He always kept us guessing, watching out for his next prank or joke, and always had a quick comeback when ever we thought we were finally going to get the best of him. You can only imagine my confused little kid face when he announced that we were eating hand grenades for dinner! Now, at this point in my life, I had watched a few episodes of MASH, and I knew what a hand grenade did...let us just leave it at this dish gets its name because it...uhhh errr...has a similar effect on one's digestive tract. As for the origins of this dish, there is some controversy, mainly because Europe, in its entirety, would like to take individual credit...Poland, Hungary, Germany, Sweeden...you get the point, and know what countries are in Europe! In the end, my dad, sister, and brother wait for fall with baited breath, knowing that hand grenades will come out of the oven with in the first few cool weeks. As irony would have it, it is miserably hot out, for fall, today and I type this as I sit in front of the air conditioner with the cat!

Vinnie loves to help cook...especially if there are veggies involved! Don't worry...his paws aren't in the food...he just likes to watch and try to steal veggies!

My great grandpa and my brother...circa 1991!

Hand Grenades
Yields 5 servings

To Prepare the Cabbage

1. Carefully peel whole leaves off of a savoy cabbage. The leaves will break off at the stem with a little force! I like using savoy cabbage because, unlike the green cabbage, it does not need to be cooked before making the actual rolls. This type of cabbage can be found at your local grocery store. It is green, but has a more pliable leaf that has a lot of texture to it!

2. Wash the leaves and pat them dry with some papertowels.

To Prepare the Beef and Rice
1. Make a large box of white quick rice.
2. While the rice is cooking, add 2 pounds of ground beef to a bowl. If you do not want to use beef, ground pork and chicken work well with this recipe!
3. When the rice is done cooking, add 2 cups of it to the beef.

4. Mix the beef and rice together, carefully, as the rice is still hot! I am not liable for burnt fingers hehe!

5. Leave the left over rice in the pot with the lid on, as it will be what the cabbage rolls are served on!

To Finish the Dish
1. Pour 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce into a large casserole dish.

2. Lay out cabbage leaf so it resembles the shape of a bowl, with the veiny end closest to you.
3. Make a large meatball (2-3 inches in diameter).
4. Place the meatball in the stiff, veiny end of the cabbage and roll the cabbage over it until the cabbage is touching cabbage again.

5. Fold in both sides of the cabbage, and continue rolling it the rest of the way closed.

6. Place it in the casserole dish. Continue with this process until you have run out of beef! If you do not like cabbage, or have company that will be joining you for dinner that does not like cabbage, you can make regular sized meatballs out of the meat and rice mixture. Our family calls these porcupine balls!