Runzas, Our Way

She Said:

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the store and for some unknown reason, bought six pounds of ground beef. We used one pound the day I bought it and froze the rest.

I challenged Him to make something with some of the ground beef that He's never made before. And this is what He came up with.

Based on this recipe, we definitely took it to a whole different place.

Runzas, Our Way

3 lbs. frozen white bread dough, thawed
2 pounds ground beef
1 medium head cabbage, finely shredded
1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 pound Swiss cheese
1/4 pound American cheese
2 medium onions, diced
3 cloves garlic
Crushed red pepper flakes (from our garden last year)
Seasoned salt (we use Nature's Season)
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
8 oz. sour cream
4 tablespoons prepared horseradish, more or less to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350℉.

2. Cut each roll of the thawed bread dough into 3 pieces and set aside. In a large skillet, brown the beef; season with red pepper flakes, Nature's Season, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste; drain if necessary. In another large skillet, sweat the onions and garlic for a few minutes, then add the shredded cabbage and saute for a couple of minutes more. Combine the beef and vegetables.

3. Roll out the bread dough into rough squares. Place a heaping spoonful of the beef/cabbage mixture onto the center of each dough square. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, place a half slice of Swiss cheese and a half slice of American cheese over the mozzarella; fold dough over and pinch sides to seal. Place seam side down onto a parchment- or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Brush a bit of olive oil on the outside of each pastry.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

5. While the pastries are baking, combine sour cream and horseradish to make a dipping sauce. Serve pastries with dipping sauce.

Delish!! And quite different from anything we've ever had before. I was worried that there might be too much bread around the filling and that it would be dry. But it was anything but. It was light and crispy and really good.

Another winner!

And I suspect that this could be done with any type of ground meat or shredded pork or chicken and your choice of seasonings and vegetables. I think it's a good sound basis for lots of potential easy-to-eat meals.

Oh, by the way, this is a huge recipe. It makes 9 runzas - one is PLENTY to eat at a meal. So you will have lots of leftovers!