Love stuffed cabbage but don't have time to make it? This is more of a method than recipe that helps you have the taste without the work and also keeps the calories & fat content down. It takes about an hour from start to finish:

Use your favorite stuffed cabbage recipe as a guide, omitting any bread crumbs, salt and eggs:

1. In a soup pot cover whatever ground meat(s) you use with water, bring to a boil and then simmer just until no longer pink. Takes less than 10 minutes.

2. Pour into a collander and let stand.

3. Rinse out the soup pot and add enough canned chicken or beef broth to cover the soup ingredients. I use chicken broth even though I use ground beef for the meat. Heat to boiling.

4. While the broth is heating, slice a head of cabbage into whatever size pieces you'd like for the soup, chop onion/garlic and any other vegetables.

5. Add the rice, cabbage, other chopped vegetables, seasonings, NO SALT and drained cooked meat to the broth.

6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice, cabbage and vegetables are done the way you like them. (for me, about 30-40 minutes).

7. If your recipe calls for tomato sauce or soup, add it now and heat through. You might want to use tomato paste or puree for stronger tomato flavor.

8. Taste and correct the seasonings. Add salt now if you think it is needed. I don't add any salt since there is already so much in the canned broth. If you want a thicker soup, add a tablespoon or two of cornstarch that has been mixed with water until smooth and cook a bit until thickened.

You will need to experiment a bit to get your "stuffed cabbage soup" to taste the way you like it. For sure, it's not "real" stuffed cabbage but I'd never take the time to make the "real" thing. I find it great for dieting since the meat fats are drained away by simmering in water and the only other significant calories are in the rice.