Grandma Rose's Runzas, from Amy

If you've ever driven through Nebraska, you've probably seen the yellow and green signs for "Runza" restaurants all over the place, this is my grandmother's recipe, handed down from her mother, from her mother, etc. There are other recipes out there for these, but this one, is my favorite.

Filling
* 2 lbs ground beef
* 1 medium to large white onion
*1 medium head of green cabbage
*Salt and pepper

Directions
*In a large pot, brown the ground beef and then drain and rinse. Then return to pot.
*In a food processor (you don't need to, you can chop by hand, but this is soooo much faster) finely chop the cabbage and then the onion.
*Add both to the ground beef and stir so everything is all mixed up.
*Turn the heat under the pot onto low to medium-low and cover with a tight-fitting lid. You'll want to steam the filling until the cabbage and onion is cooked and soft.
*As it's cooking, add salt and pepper to taste. I like mine spicy, so I add a great deal of pepper. When it's done, set it to cool. I often will put it in a bowl in the refrigerator overnight and use it the next day.

Dough
*1 pkg yeast
*2 1/2 C warm water
*5 tbsp sugar
*1 tbsp salt
*6 tbsp melted shortening
*5-6 C flour
*Butter

Directions
*In 1/2 cup of warm water, dissolve the package of yeast
*Stir in the remaining 2 cups of water, sugar, salt and melted shortening
*Add approximately 5 cups of flour and stir to make a dough. Gradually add the remaining cup until the dough is no longer sticky.
*Roll out portions of the dough and cut into "squarish" pieces. These can be any size. The larger the piece, the larger the runza. (I know, not very specific...)
*Place 1-3 spoonfuls of the cooled filling (this is dependent on how large the dough pieces are) in the center of the square.
*Gather the edges together and pinch to close off the "dough packet". You'll end up with an oval "ball" of filling and dough. I usually bring 2 opposite corners together, and then the other 2 opposite corners together to seal.
*Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until they start to turn golden brown.
*Brush the tops with melted butter, or just rub the stick of butter along the tops.
*When they've cooled a bit, enjoy!!

These can be frozen once they're cooked to save for later. I'll usually make a double batch so I can do this.