Wellllll it’s October, which means Asher starts fighting to put on his jacket. In honor of this fall tradition, this past weekend we took the boys to Goebbert’s Farm and Pumpkin Patch for some corn mazing, camel rides, overpriced kettle corn, and giraffe feeding. The frugal mom that I am, I brought us a picnic instead of paying $15 for microwaved pizza but of course the moment we settled down to eat Asher ran around the picnic area removing all the signage from the tables advertising their hot Halloween deals and featured food items. The senior citizen employee in charge of the lunch area followed him around methodically placing them all back on the table, at one point even reaching under our own table to pick up the sign he had mashed into the ground. Needless to say, soon after the Oreos were done and Asher visited the zebra it was time to go home.

To unwind after a long day, I opted for a hearty winter casserole dish which is a vegetarian riff on stuffed cabbage. I stole the idea from Kalyn’s Kitchen which features a beef version which I naturally changed to tofu, but I think textured soy protein would be even more flavorful! This entire dish costs around $10 – $15 and serves 8.

STUFFED CABBAGE CASSEROLE

3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 boxes extra firm tofu, or 1 lb textured soy protein
1 large onion, chopped small
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 Tablespoons paprika (the original recipe calls for Hungarian Paprika if you have it)
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste (for seasoning meat mixture and cooked cabbage)
1 heads green cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 15 oz can petite dice tomatoes with juice
1 15 oz can tomato sauce or 1 jar of tomato sauce
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups low-fat cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a large glass or crockery casserole dish with non-stick spray. Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in frying pan on medium heat and fry diced onions for 5 minutes until onions are transluscent. Add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and paprika and cook about 2 minutes more. Then crumble the firm tofu with your hands and add to the onion mixture. Add the diced tomatoes with juice and tomato sauce. Let mixture simmer until it’s hot and slightly thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut cabbage in half, cut out the core, and remove any wilted outer leaves, and then chop the cabbage coarsely into pieces. Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large frying pan or dutch oven with high sides, add the cabbage and cook over medium-high heat until the cabbage is wilted, turning it over several times so it all cooks. Season cabbage with salt and fresh-ground black pepper. When the tomato sauce mixture has cooked 15 minutes, stir in the 2 cups of cooked brown rice and gently combine. Spray a large glass casserole dish with non-stick spray and the layer half the cabbage, half the meat mixture, other half of cabbage, and other half of meat mixture. Top with cheese and bake in oven for 40 minutes. Turn on the broiler for 5 minutes at the end to crisp the cheese and top layer of the casserole.