1 pound lean ground beef
2 medium onions, chopped
1 small head cabbage, cored and chopped
5-1/2 ounces tomato paste
6 cups beef broth
1/2 cup long grain rice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon brown sugar
salt and pepper

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and fry until no longer pink, then add the onions and cabbage and a pinch of salt.
2. Reduce heat to medium and cook until cabbage is softened, about 10 minutes.
3. Transfer contents to a soup pot and add tomato paste and beef broth. Bring to a boil and add the rice, cinnamon and brown sugar. Cook until rice is tender, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes 8 servings

I've been wanting to make cabbage rolls for ages now, but never really got around to it. I've always thought I make an exceptional cabbage roll because of one "secret" ingredient; cinnamon. It's funny that I never attributed this flavor to Moussaka before, but that's the basic idea. Cabbage rolls that taste reminiscent of moussaka with a very rich tomato sauce that sort of browns and crisped around them. However, since moving here I haven't been able to find the typical sour cabbage that I would buy to make cabbage rolls and did not feel like bothering with buying an enormous head of cabbage and making enough to feed the entire neighborhood, so I created what I'll call Cabbage Roll Soup, a culmination of all the ingredients I would have put in cabbage rolls, except in a soup instead.

I thought my heart was in the right place. When has anything gone wrong while trying to take the easy way out because of your certain laziness? However, the end result was not as appetizing as I had hoped. The pinch of brown sugar I added to take away from the bitterness seemed to change the entire flavor to one like vinegar. When your food tastes vinegary and no vinegar has been added, something has gone terribly wrong. Shannon agreed that perhaps the soup was too sweet, but otherwise delicious. Bless her heart for no wanting to break mine. I would otherwise just pretend this is an ingredient list for cabbage rolls and go that route instead of the soup. Actually, that wouldn't turn out too well, either. Perhaps just try adding cinnamon and brown sugar to your tomato sauce then next time you make cabbage rolls.