As we celebrated National Agriculture Day this week, it made me think back to a trip I made to Washington D.C. in 2010.  

Touring Washington D.C. can be a great lesson on US History, if you take the time to take in the sites.  We attended a USDA lockup in the Department of Agriculture building.  There were older pictures hanging up in the Department of Agriculture building that have always stuck with me. I love this picture! At that time, the area seemed more of a swamp area, and cattle around, with the Nation's Capital in the back ground.  I bet it would be hard to find pasture in those areas today.  

The first masonic stone for the US Capital was laid on September 1793 by President George Washington. It was a large building to complete, and it passed through a few architect hands.   The US Capital building was opened on November 17, 1800.



Not only do we celebrate National Agriculture Day this week, but also St. Patrick's Day.  Even if you are not Irish, you have to at least appreciate the food that is served on this day as a tradition.  The first thing that comes to mind is Corned Beef and Cabbage.  We decided to make a special meal for the guys at work.  We did cook the cabbage separately, because cabbage was not a crowd favorite around here.  They were told they had to eat cabbage to get dessert, still didn't sway them to try the cabbage.


The corned beef was cooked all morning long on the stove.


The carrots and potatoes were cooked separately.


And of course, the cabbage was boiled in a separate pot.  We try to keep everyone happy.

I have never tried stuffed cabbage rolls out of my kitchen.  It's hard to get the husband and kids on board to eat lettuce, let alone cabbage. One year I was so excited about growing cabbage in the garden,  but I was the only one who would eat it. I tried a new recipe last night, Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls, it is super easy, fast, and very filling. It's a great recipe to try summer time, and enjoy the rest of your evening with the kids.



I cut up a small onion from our garden, sauteed in the pan until transparent.  I added one pound of hamburger with simple seasonings, sea salt, pepper, and garlic salt.



Since I was making this recipe for my lunches at work, and knew one pound of hamburger would make four servings for me, I chopped up 16 ounces of cabbage to add to my hamburger mixture after it was browned.




I added the chopped cabbage to my browned hamburger.  I also added about 1/2 cup of water.  Cover and let the vapors help cook the cabbage, and stir occasionally.





 The cabbage is starting to cook down. Keep stirring occasionally. I added tomato paste mixed with water, this gave a little more flavor to this simple dish.  Add some sea salt and pepper to season.



Dinner was served for me, and three other helpings were now ready for my other meals for work.  I think this meal is something the whole family will like! I divided my meals into separate tupperware, and I am taking it to work with me!