Foodie Friday: Runzas

***Sorry this is a day late. Let's hope it is not a dollar short.***

If you are not from Nebraska, you may have been missing out on this amazing treat your whole life. A Runza is a meat handpie made with cabbage. It is a traditional Germans from Russia dish. (They are huge in this area and you always hear about them.) What is the Nebraska connections? Well, Runza is a restaurant chain in Nebraska with somewhat of a cult following. They make all varieties of Runzas and they also have to-die-for onion rings and french fries. (Their burgers aren't too shabby either.)

We had half a head of cabbage left over from our St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage meal. I decided the destiny for that cabbage would be Runzas.

I found a recipe on Recipezaar and took it from there. I started out with a double batch of my basic dough recipe, only this time I used all bread flour. I browned a pound of ground beef and added the half head of chopped cabbage and half of a medium onion also chopped. While the cabbage was cooking down, I added salt, pepper, and ranch dressing mix to taste. (Don't be afraid to be generous. I thought that I was and they still could have a used a bit more seasoning.) I was planning on adding some grated cheese here, but completely forgot until we were eating. I would highly recommend adding the cheese!!

I rolled the dough out into eight pieces that were about 12" x 5" rectangles. I filled each dough piece with the meat mixture, folded the dough around it, and sealed the sides. You will want to put the Runzas seam side down on a greased baking sheet. I then let them rise about 20 minutes and baked them at 375 for 20 minutes.

These were good, but I really wished that I hadn't forgotten the cheese and had added a bit more seasoning.

And now, even if you don't live in Nebraska, you can have yourself a Runza.