I have also never heard of raisins in cabbage rolls. And adding honey...hmmmm. We had small cigar shaped cabbage rolls at a Ukrainian wedding many years ago. The filling had no meat-only seasoned rice.
I started par boiling brown rice to add instead of white, and then one day, did the same with pearl barley, for exactly the same reason as you--no rice in the house. We also prefer the taste of the pearl barley. It seems heartier. My DFIL--of Austrian/Ukrainian background, would grind up a ham steak and add it to the ground beef. The rolls were layered with hand pulped whole canned tomatoes. I have taken a slightly easier route by using diced canned tomatoes.
There is an Istrian version of lasagna that originated in far northeastern Italy. It uses cabbage leaves instead of lasagna noodles. An interesting take on the combination of dishes from two bordering nationalities.