Stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce (The Cook Book of Glorious Eating for Weight Watchers, 1961)

A new cookbook today! And kind of an interesting one, in that it has "weight watchers" in the title, but it doesn't refer specifically to the program - in fact, this cookbook even predates Jean Nidetch's first meeting by a couple of years!

When I was in high school, I took an Earth and Space science course, and one day before showing us a movie, the teacher cautioned us about "documentaries" and certain educational films, telling us to do our own research and discover what point of view and opinion is being centered, to guide our understanding and expectations. Then he showed us a movie about the terrific work being done by scientists to clean up oil spills and rescue affected animals. The film was produced by Exxon, naturally.

This popped back in my mind as I perused this cookbook - promising glorious eating, talking about weight loss and management ... and printed/distributed by Wesson.

The booklet starts with promises about the recipes - you'll eat all the foods you love and lose weight! - peppered with lots of fun facts about how pure and high-quality Wesson oil truly is. Then there's a chart for folks to figure out their ideal weight - and lucky for us gals, they've factored our high heels into our height!

Oh, dear. It reads a lot like the BMI charts, which I am not terribly fond of - my goal weight is what is right for me personally, not the command of an outdated system with no consideration of my specific body, my complicated history, and my personal goals.

I bought ground beef at the store per my family's request - I don't buy it often because our kosher options are very limited so the only ground beef we have access to is 85/15, so it's higher in fat (and Points). I got some ground turkey also, which I'll do another recipe with later this week - it's still higher in fat/Points than non-kosher options but again, I'm doing the best we can with what we have.

After last week's salmon dolmas, I've been in the mood for more cabbage roll varieties. The salmon ones had been easy to make and just as delicious for leftovers the next day, and I am still interested in attempting other varieties. My biggest issue with the cabbage rolls is ... well, the cabbage. I have a hard time removing it from the head in one piece. 

Voilà the first one, the only semiperfect one with the nicest outer leaf. The others still roll up lovely, and clearly they're delicious. Just not sure if there's a trick to it that I don't know or what.

Predictably delicious, and a crowd favorite - and except for the rice, it's kosher for Passover friendly too, which is something I'll need to start thinking about and considering in the next few weeks. I bet I could swap cauliflower or other veggie rice to keep the texture and it'd work out just fine.