Mennonite Monday - Easy Runza Squares

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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This week I have a large amount of garden produce especially cabbage, so I decided to make Easy Runza Squares (pg 145W).

Easy Runza Squares

 Dough: 

1 cup warm water

1 pkg dry yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 Tbl margarine

3 1/4 cup flour

Dissolve yeast in water and add sugar and salt.  Mix.  Add egg, margarine and stir in flour.  Refrigerate 4 hours.  Divide dough in half and press half into greased 9 x 13" pan. 

Filling: 

1 1/2 lbs hamburger

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 cups shredded cabbage

1 1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp pepper

Dash of Tabasco sauce

1/2 cup water

Brown hamburger and onion.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer covered 15-20 minutes.  Cool before putting on dough.  Pat remaining half of dough on lightly floured surface into a 9x13" rectangle and place on filling.  Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees on low oven rack.  Remove and brush with melted butter. 

 My camera battery was almost dead, so my pictures are a lacking, but I browned my hamburger with minced onion and natures seasoning instead of salt and pepper. 

 The dough mixed together in my kitchen aid mixer pretty easily, and the dough did rise slightly in the refrigerator.

 The hamburger cabbage mixture.  I cooked the hamburger and cabbage at the same time as I mixed up my dough, so the meat had a few hours to cool, while the dough set in the refrigerator. 

 I tried to roll out the top half of the dough, but it was easier to pat it into the right size.

 I'm still not the best with working with dough, but it is getting better. 

 My top layer of dough was no the perfect size, but I made it fit. 

 Butter on the top. 

I skimped a little bit on the meat, only using 1 lb instead of 1.5 lbs of meat.  I wish I would have used the full amount of meat, because the dough was a little overpowering.  The red glob is ketchup, which is always good with runzas.

Be sure to vote for next weeks recipe.