RUNZAS FOR LUNCH

My friend Katherine has informed, challenged, and encouraged my faith as much as anyone living today. And it is Katherine who introduced me to runzas. A runza is basically a German pocket sandwich - a yeast bun filled with a mixture of meat, cabbage, and onion. They are delicious hot out of the oven or as leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.

To make runzas, start with a good basic yeast bread recipe. (A bread recipe calling for about 5-6 cups of flour makes enough dough for the filling below.) Mix and knead your dough; set aside to rise. While the dough rises, prepare your filling.

For today's runzas, I browned a pound of ground beef and half-a-pound of sausage together, along with two small diced onions. (Sausage is my own personal twist - I am the granddaughter of a hog farmer, and I love sausage!) I drained the meat, then added about 5 cups of shredded cabbage, and cooked and stirred until the cabbage was just wilted.

I punched down my dough and divided it into 16 blobs. To make each runza, I rolled a blob of dough into a circle...

...spooned about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of meat & cabbage filling onto the circle...

...and then folded the dough over and crimped the edges together with a fork.

I placed the runzas on a lightly-greased baking sheet...

...and baked them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until nicely browned.

At my house, we like to eat runzas with lots of mustard.

Katherine taught me that there is something very good about spending time with friends in the kitchen, hands together in dough. (I have never met anyone who owns more rolling pins...plenty for anyone who wants to join in the baking!) Food and faith go together so very well.

I'm weathered in here in Northwest Tennessee today. There's no telling where in the world Katherine is today. But Helen requested runzas for lunch, and when we eat runzas, it feels like Katherine is right here with us.