Stuffed Cabbage Casserole (in the crockpit)

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/kalyns-stuffed-cabbage-casserole.html

I never thought I would be a cabbage person, but this is amazing. I made it once her way and then last night threw it in the crockpot to see how that works (spoiler, it works great). It filled a 6 quart crockpot. Fed 2 very hungry adults with enough left over for 5 good sized lunches for the week. A little sour cream goes well on this as well.

Here is the recipe with my changes

Ingredients:

1 lb. 95% lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp finely minced garlic
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp sweet Hungarian Paprika
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 heads green cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1-2 cup water
1 cups uncooked brown rice
2 cups pizza blend cheese

Instructions:

Heat a large frying pan on medium heat; add ground beef and cook until it's browned and cooked through, breaking it apart as it cooks. Add onion to soften . Add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and paprika and cook about 2 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and uncooked rice and 1- 2 cup of water

Cut cabbage in half, cut out the core, and remove any wilted outer leaves; chop the cabbage coarsely into 1 inch pieces.

In the crockpot layer half the cabbage, half the meat mixture, remaining cabbage, and remaining meat mixture. (you can just mix it all in also.)

Cook on High for 6 hours adding water if the rice is not getting done. For the last 20 minutes put cheese on top and let melt.