Weekly Recipe Roundup

I have 2 quick entrees and another pancake recipe - I promise we don't eat pancakes every day. Although, would that be a crime?!

I had a half of head of cabbage sitting in my fridge that I knew would go to waste unless I found a recipe to use it. When I came across this recipe for Cabbage Roll Soup, I knew I had to try it. Wes and I both like cabbage rolls but for whatever reason, I never make them. I had actually never heard of them until he told me his grandmother used to make them and I looked for a recipe (this was many years ago when I was trying to win his heart through his belly!). This soup is perfect for a cold winters day. It's hearty, comforting, and has lots of healthy goodness in it. I actually forgot to add the salt and although Wes added some to his, I thought it was just fine without. This is a keeper in our house!

Each week when I make my menu, I try to utilize as much from our freezer, fridge and pantry as possible. I love the feeling of using something up or emptying out the freezer! This next recipe for Combination Fried Rice appeared in Southern Living as an post-Thanksgiving idea to use up leftovers. I guess I wasn't far from the mark in my thought process. I love fried rice but I also know how much fat and sodium is in the typical Chinese version. This recipe definitely lightens it up, yet it still manages to retain it's taste. I used brown rice, added some diced carrots, and topped it with some sweet chili sauce. I paired it with our favorite Bok Choy Salad and it was a very filling meal.

I've been reading the Pioneer Woman for a long time. She amazes me. I would love to know how she cooks, cleans, helps on the farm, home schools her children, photographs, and now travels with her cookbook and her fame. Has she found a way to add hours to a day? No wonder she's developed the cult following that she has! As much as I've read and bookmarked her recipes, I've never actually tried one. That is until I made her Sour Cream Pancakes a couple of weekends ago. They were divine. SO light and fluffy that they almost dissolved the minute they hit my tongue. I was a bit skeptical as I was making them though because the recipe called for 1 cup of sour cream and only 7T. of flour. That's quite a ratio. Don't doubt Ree, she knows what she's doing. I don't often have sour cream in the fridge but the next time I do, these bad boys are getting whipped up again. The only downside to the recipe was that it only yielded 6-7 smallish pancakes. That was probably a good thing though!