Sunday, December 14, 2008

Recipe: Red Cabbage Soup

Again, this is a recipe created by poking around the frig this morning to find what is hanging out in the nooks and crannies, still left from the big influx of food before Thanksgiving or already in our freezer/pantry ready to use. I want to make sure that all the veggies that came with our Tantre Farm Thanksgiving CSA share get used for something delicious to eat, not "worm food" (yes, my husband has a vermiculture tub - i.e. worm composting - in the basement) or outside in our compost pile.

We frequently eat a supper of a hearty home-made soup, salad, and whole grain bread. Tonight I made this filling, delicious, beautiful, and healthy red cabbage soup, which we relished and ate with the remaining kale balls and bruschetta/pepper sauce, along with whole wheat bread. In addition, my husband thought it appropriate that we had a glass of red wine with our red soup. Yum, yum, yum! We finished our meal with the small pieces of chocolate that came in the Michigan Lady Food Bloggers' stocking at our cookie exchange last night. Thanks, Patti!

Red Cabbage Soup Recipe - Ingredients:

* 4 cups homemade veggie broth (here is when I use my red homemade veggie broth that included beet peelings)
* 4 cups water (I filled up and thus rinsed out the quart-size yogurt container used for my homemade broth to make sure every little bit of homemade broth was in the soup!)
* 2 cups tomatoes, chopped fresh or canned (1 pint or 15 oz can)
* 1 Tbsp. tomato paste (optional) - I used ~1 Tbsp. of my dried tomato/veggie broth recipe that came with my food dehydrator
* 1 medium size potato, scrub and chop into small-medium size pieces (~ 1 cup) - I used 3 smallish purple potatoes, scrubbed and unpeeled
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
* 1/2 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika (truly, I am experimenting with adding this to almost everything these days!)
* 3-4 cups cabbage shredded or thinly sliced red (or green if that is what you have on hand)
* 1 can (~2 cups) drained red beans (kidney beans, red beans, adzuki, pinto beans, or ½ cup dry red lentils - I purchase my dried organic beans in bulk and cook them all at once, then freezing them in 1 cup portions to pull out of the freezer to quickly add to recipes just like this)
* chopped fresh green herbs for garnish (I was inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Dandelion Haven.) I did not use the rosemary in my south-facing kitchen window but tried the spicy marjoram I brought in the for winter for a less intense but still flavorful and colorful garnish on top of the soup. I purchased this marjoram plant at the Farmers' Market in Plymouth, MI on an outing with some of my dietitian friends, so I enjoy nurturing it each day as a reminder of those great friends.

Preparation

1. In a large soup pot, combine the water, broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped potato, bay leaf, salt, and seaonings.

Simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Add the cabbage, beans or lentils. Heat just until cabbage is slightly wilted but still a bit crunchy and also until beans are heated through and/or lentils are cooked. Remove the bay leaf, top with a garnish, and serve.

Looks and tastes great topped with the cut fresh herbs, some unflavored yogurt or a sprinkle of baked and chopped pumpkin or squash seeds.

Enjoy!!

Our food blessing tonight:

As thou has set the moon in the sky
to be the poor man's lantern,
so let thy Light shine in my dark life
and lighten my path;
as the rice is sown in the water
and brings forth grain in great abundance,
so let thy word be sown in our midst
that the harvest may be great;
and as the banyan tree sends forth its branches
to take root in the soil,
so let thy Life take root in our lives.

~~Hindu blessing

I've only seen rice growing from the air, flying over Arkansas. I was fascinated to see a rice plant from root to flower last weekend made out of glass. When visiting Boston for my cardiology check-up, we went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History specifically to see their glass flower exhibit. Rice and a few additional examples of various food plants were included in this incredible collection of more than 830 glass flowers! Cancer has taken me places I would not have expected to be, such as this museum on the Harvard campus. Being open to, accepting of, even embracing the "unexpected" ways that cancer has enriched and brought abundance to my life is one way that I feel "Life" has taken root in me, for which I am very grateful. I hope the challenges in your life also bring opportunities and joys to you. :-)

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

1 comment:

ADUKI BEETROOT and RED CABBAGE SOUP said...

Soup fanatic here.. I love searching around the net just to get more idea in preparing a best soup for my family.