Meat, potato and veggie casserole

Per Jenny's request, here is the recipe for one of my favorite childhood casseroles!

-1lb lean ground beef
-1 pkg. onion soup mix (the beefy onion or onion and mushroom are the best)
-1 egg
-1/2 c. bread crumbs

mix all of the indgredients up and either make and brown meatballs or just brown it and leave it in big chunks (it doesn't have to be cooked through completly but you want to cook it at least half of the way so your casserole doesn't get greasy. It is very important to use a lean beef for this recipe. Once it is cooked spread out evenly in the bottom of a cake pan/baking dish.

Next--
-1 c. baby carrots or 3 full sized carrots peeled
-1 small head of cabbage (or 1/2 of a large head)
-1/2 of a medium onion

Shred the carrots finely (I use a salad shooter, you could do this by hand with grater or buy shredded carrots). Chop the onion well. Chop or shredd the cabbage (you could also cheat and use the dole coleslaw mix...it's usually just cabbage with a few carrots in it). Mix these ingedients and spread evenly over the meat.

Then, thinly slice 2 large baking potatoes (skin on) and layer them on top of the other veggies. I then generally lightly salt and pepper the top of the potatoes and sprinkle on some grated parmesan cheese. Over your casserole pour on tomato juice (pour on enough to cover the potatoes...shake it down and make sure there is enough liquid (remember that the cabbage will release some liquid).

Bake, covered with tinfoil, for 2 hrs or until the potatoes are cooked. You can then sprinkle on a bit more parmesan and melt it. Let sit for 5 minutes before you serve it.




Variations and quick fixes.
-instead of the tomato juice use a can of cream of mushroom and cream of celelry soup. Mix with 2 cans of milk and pour over top.
-to make this a faster meal use frozen shredded hasbrowns instead of raw potatoes. Follow all of the directions the same and bake for 45 minutes or until the potatoes and cabbage are cooked through.

You can serve this with lettuce salad if you'd like or cottage cheese (if that's your think). We always had garlic bread with it too!