Brown sausage and ground beef and drain off fat.  Add salt, Worcestershire, oregano, and cubed velveta cheese.

While warm spread onto rye bread slices.  Flash freeze on cookie sheet.  When frozen place in ziplock bag.  Keep frozen.  Bake at 400 and heat for 10 minutes when ready to serve.

In flat greased casserole pan, layer bread, sausage & cheese.  Pour egg mixture over and let stand in refrigerator covered overnight.  Bake at 325 for  45-60 minutes.

With a knife, cut out the core of the cabbage.  Place in a large pot with about 3 inches of water.  Bring to a boil and cook for 10-15 minutes or until leaves turn a little soft.  Drain water off and rinse with cool water to speed cooking process.

While cabbage is cooking prepare the 2 cups of rice.  Set off to the side.

In a bowl mix 2 lbs of meat with the 2 cups of cooked rice.  Add 1 egg, chopped onion and salt, pepper and herbs to your liking.  Mix everything well.

Seperate cabbage leaves apart and add some filling to each leaf then roll it like a burrito and put into a casserole dish that has 1/2 cup of sauce on the bottom.  Line all rolls up close togehter and pour remaining sauce over the top.

Bake covered with foil for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

This is the cover of the cookbook my Nane made us for Christmas, full of all her recipes. Sausage & Peppers is in there. P.S. That’s a picture of the dessert table at my wedding.  She made everything on it but the cake.

Sausage and Peppers:

2 lbs sweet Italian sausage
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large bell peppers (your choice of colors)
1 small Spanish onion
4 cups Marinara sauce
1 cup water

Cut the sausages into 2 inch pieces.  Pan fry the sausage with the oil on medium heat until sausage is cooked.  Drain oil fromt he pan.  Add peppers and onions and continute to sauté for a few minutes stirring constantly.  At this point, add marinara sauce and water.  Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Serves 4-5.



Follow The Recipe Extra:
The thing about this recipe is it’s easy to customize.  We like it spicy so I always throw in some crushed red pepper flakes and serve either with pasta or a really good french bread.  You can also go with sweeter and add fresh basil leaves and use a tomato vodka sauce with fresh tomatoes diced and added in.  This way is good with pasta, I like a Manicotti or a Gemelli.

Minestrone Soup:

1 lb. of Italian bulk sausage
2-3 stalks celery diced
2-3 carrots sliced
2 onions chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
1-28oz can of italian diced tomatoes
2-8oz. cans tomato sauce
2 Tbs parsley flakes
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 cans beef broth
1  tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
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2 small zucchini sliced
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 can great northern beans (or cannellini if you prefer)
1 cup uncooked macaroni noodles
Parmesan cheese

Begin by browning and draining the Italian bulk sausage.  Place browned sausage in a large stock pot with 3 cups of water on high heat.  Boil for 8 minutes then add all of the ingredients above the dashed line. Reduce the pot to a simmer and cook for 1 hour (or as much as 6 hours).

After the hour add the rest of the ingredients and the noodles.  Simmer for 1/2 hour more or until macaroni is cooked.  Serve with Parmesan cheese and a good bread.

Follow The Recipe Extra:
This recipe makes a ton of soup and it’s a filling soup at that.  Luckly its a soup that freezes very, very well.  Put any extras in a tuperware in the freezer.  When ready to reheat, put it in a stock pot and add a little water on med heat.  It will defrost nicely and taste wonderful.