Saturday, September 13, 2008

RUNZAS (BIEROCKS)


My goal to make dinner at least 4 nights a week with only the ingredients I
have in the kitchen left me a little puzzled this week. I had a fresh cabbage,
onion and of course, moose burger in the freezer. I went to www.allrecipes.com
and used their search where you can type in the ingredients you have and they
will list recipes you can make with those ingredients.

Runzas came up--something I had never heard of before. After reading a bit
more about them it seems they are very popular in the midwest region. I read
that there are Runza fast food chains and they are sold at ball parks with beer.
Some states call them Runzas, some states call them Bierocks. Whatever you
call them, they are delicious! A bread pocket filled with cooked cabbage and
meat that is very good hot from the oven and just as delicious the next day in 
the lunch box. 

These are easily adjusted to your tastes too--you can add cheese, mushrooms,
sauce, whatever sounds good. A Runza pizza pocket would be good too I think
with pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese. I like the way they are easily held in 
your hand to eat--no utensils required. Perfect for on the go lunches & camping!

I made these with the frozen bread dough because I was short on time, but next
time I will plan ahead and make the dough from scratch because frozen bread
dough is  very expensive here!



RUNZAS

1 pound (1 loaf) frozen bread dough, thawed
1 small onion, diced
1/2 pound ground beef
4 cups shredded cabbage
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1/2 can cream of soup-your choice: mushroom/celery/chicken
Salt, pepper to taste
Butter

Divide thawed bread dough into 6 pieces and roll into balls.

Saute onion in large saucepan until browned; add ground beef & cook until beef
is no longer pink. Stir in cabbage, cover and cook until cabbage is wilted, then
sprinkle with celery seed. Add undiluted soup and heat through, then add salt & 
pepper to taste.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Flatten each dough ball into approx. 5 x 5" square. Fill center of each square with 
about 1/2 cup of beef mixture. Bring opposite corners of dough square together
one at a time and seal so there are no leaks. Place seam side down on greased 
cookie sheet and flatten slightly with palm of hand.

Bake in preheated oven for approx 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and butter
top of each pastry as soon as they come out of the oven. Delicious dipped in ketchup
or mustard.


10 comments:

Niki said...

These sound delicious, Kris! I'm going to give them a try! Isn't Allrecipes great?

Laura ~Peach~ said...

call them cabbage rolls here... I make them with cabbage, onion, bell pepper, meat, cheese and mushrooms ... they are so DELISHIOUS!!!!!!yours look yummmmmmmmy~~~ of course I have not seen a thing you cook that is not YUMMMMY looking:D

Grandma Tillie's Bakery said...

Niki--please let me know what you put in them and how they turn out--we loved them.

Laura--those ingredients sound good too! They are so easy that I can tell I am going to experiment a lot with them.

Debbie in CA : ) said...

Sounds a lot like the cornish pasties that our gold-mining area is famous for. I can't wait until the heat subsides and I can do some real baking without having to crank up the cooler. As I sit here on my deck in near 90 temps, the thought of a "hot" anything is not real tempting. Today we feasted on cheese omlette, fresh peaches and raspberries, honey yogurt, and toasted whole-grain bread spread with pate ... yummy! Life is good on the Sierra Riviera. No hand-held hot anything. (But, I will be tucking this recipe away for use when fall shows up.) ; )

p.s.
I've never heard of allrecipes.com. Thanks for the tip.

p.p.s.
I love to play the "Pantry Cooking" game. My family raves every time we play. It's so fun!

imbeingheldhostage said...

I've never officially done the pantry cooking game, although it feels like that's what I'm coming up with just about nightly. These sound delicious-- what a great idea!

Karen Deborah said...

yum, I'll check out the website. I make a lot of what's in the refrig/pantry food. Ma just called it Texas Trash/goolash. Stuffing it into bread dough is a terrific idea!

Grandma Tillie's Bakery said...

Karen--I had me share of goulash growing up and I loved it!

Imbeingheldhostage--if you really try to cook out of the pantry it affects what you buy when you DO go to the store--I found that out!

Debbie--all recipes has saved my rear a few times! I would be quite happy to tale some of that sun off your hands. We haven't passed 63 the entire summer, we have had record rainfall and NO sun. We went from winter to a wet spring to a wet fall and now back to winter. Hmmm... what's missing in there? LOL

Kris

Caution/Lisa said...

We call them pasties,too. They were big in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with the miners. Then, when the Polish population drifted south for work in the auto plants, pasties came, too. The big debate here is are they called Paste-ies or Past-ties.

I think allrecipes deserves some kind of great award.

Grandma Tillie's Bakery said...

Caution--now I thought Pasties were made with more of a pie crust dough? I made them once before and that was what the recipe called for. Now you have me wondering!

The Stricklands said...

I don't know about the moose meat, but the rest sounds yummy! I haven't been cooking much because of the upcoming move. I can't wait to have a pretty, remodeled kitchen - I have really missed home-cooked food. Your front porch looks great! Isn't is wonderful to have husbands who can do anything? Have a great week.
Mary :)