Get unstuffed

This post is dedicated to a great friend of mine, Heather. Everyone should have a friend like Heather. We met online, she lives over 2000 miles away, and we have only met in person twice, I believe. However, we have shared a great deal. To give you some idea of what an important person she is in my life, here's just one example. The Red Cross recommends that you give each family member the contact details for an emergency contact person who lives outside of your home state. After a disaster, such as an earthquake, it is apparently often easier to reach someone by phone who is far away, rather than someone who is local. This means that you can establish contact with someone whom your other family members may also have been able to contact, and find out that everyone is OK, even if you are not with each other, and unable to reach each other for a while. When we were setting up our family's plan in case 'the Big One' comes, Heather volunteered to be our contact. Now that is a big deal in and of itself, but having done so, Heather then wrote a handwritten letter to my kids, whom she has never met, and introduced herself, explained who she was, welcomed them to contact her etc. She's awesome. I rest my case.

As if that weren't enough, Heather gave me this recipe, as a great comfort dish for a cold winter's night. Suffice to say, it is the dish that my eldest son requests more than anything else. And it makes me think of Heather whenever he does, which is no bad thing! Everyone in the house eats it, and if such behavior were permitted, they would lick the plates clean (which probably means they do it, when my back is turned anyway). Because I am an interfering so-and-so, I have tweaked a little, using ground turkey instead of ground beef, because our family simply prefers that, and sprinkling the top with cheese, because... well, because cheese is fabulous. But the credit is all Heather's. Thanks Heather, for making their eyes light up, filling the Farrar tummies, and for being... well... awesome.

Unstuffed Cabbage Casserole
Serves 6

olive oil
1 lb lean ground turkey (or beef)
1 large yellow onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 28oz can diced tomatoes in juice
1 cup water
3/4 cup of brown rice (use one that only requires 15-20 minutes of cooking time, not one that needs longer)
salt and pepper
1 16 oz package of coleslaw mix, or equivalent of shredded cabbage and carrots
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Brown the onion, turkey and garlic together in a large skillet, stirring to break up the meat.
3. When the meat is no longer pink and the onion is softened, add half of the can of tomatoes, the water and the rice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Bring the mixture to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Place half of the coleslaw mixture in the bottom of a 9" x 9" casserole dish (or equivalent), which has been sprayed with oil spray. Pour half of the meat mixture over that. Follow with the remaining coleslaw mixture and then the remaining meat. Drizzle about 1/2 of the remaining tomatoes over the top (so about 1/4 of the can in total will remain leftover). Sprinkle with cheese and a good grinding of black pepper.
6. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 1.5 hours.