Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Cabbage Soup for the Soul


After the holidays, and all the chocolate and cookies, I am really ready
to eat some healthy, low fat meals. This cabbage soup is fast, easy to
make and tasty, too. I would like to take all the credit, but I will have
to say the recipe came from Rachel Ray. It's perfect for a chilly winter
evening. Add some crusty bread and you've got a great little meal.
And if you've had one too many cookies last week like I did, skip the
bread and eat this soup with no guilt. It's good for the soul.


Cabbage Soup


2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound ham steak, chopped
1 savoy cabbage, quartered, cored and shredded
1 onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
Salt and pepper
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
2 cups cider
1/4 cup honey
1 (14 ounce) can white beans, drained
1 pound bag sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
1 quart chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped dill
1 cup sour cream, to pass at table (optional)

Heat a soup pot over medium high heat with extra-virgin olive oil.
Add ham and lightly brown 2 to 3 minutes. Add shredded cabbage
and stir in the onions and carrots as you finish chopping and grating
them. Stir in the frozen hash browns and season the vegetables
liberally with salt and pepper. Add in a bay leaf, cider, honey, beans,
sauerkraut and chicken stock. Place a lid on the pot and bring soup to
a boil. Uncover and simmer 10 minutes until vegetables are tender.
Stir in dill and adjust seasoning of soup. Serve the soup in shallow
bowls and top with sour cream.

photo by willow

42 comments:

  1. I do so agree willow, I am sick of rich food. The photograph of that soup looks inviting, I have noted the recipe. We had carrot and onion soup for lunch and that was so good after all the turkey! Happy new year.

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  2. Oh My! This sounds wonderful. Thanks for the recipe.

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  3. Oh, this sounds so good. I love cabbage in any format and this will be one I add to my own repoirtre.

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  4. Soup is a favorite, especially with beans. And I have cabbage left from when I made the cabbage casserole. Perfect. I love visiting here. Thanks for being you, Willow!

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  5. Delicious! And warming, too. My mother always added cabbage to her vegetable soup, too, which gave it a depth and roundess of flavor it doesn't have otherwise.

    I'll try this soon! Thank you.

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  6. And here I went and just wrote a post about Baconnaise. ;-)

    No, you're right. I should be eating soup (this one looks great) and trying to be good!

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  7. Ohhh, that sounds good! I love a big pot of homemade soup. I made a good lentil soup one day that was cold and we did have crusty bread with it, but this looks yummy. Now if I can get Joe to eat cabbage...I may have to make some of this for just me. ;)) Thanks for the recipe--it sounds and looks delicious to me.

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  8. Too many cookies? Nah...

    I've been meaning to tell you how much I like the Dr. King image/quote.

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  9. nothing better than a great pot of soup simmering... umm umm good! thanks for recipe! [isn't bean soup the best?!]

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  10. Comfort soup after too much comfort! Interesting.

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  11. Yes, we're also on the soups. Lots of goodness and few calories. I'm not mad on cabbage soup though - today we've got carrot and coriander (although I had to use dried herbs as I couldn't find any fresh in the shop here).

    Love the new banner photo, willow

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  12. looks delicious. wish i could smell it and then dive into a big bowl of it!!!

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  13. Oh so yummy sounding! Cabbage and sauerkraut and beans and potatoes and cider and honey...so many of my favorite things. This might be supper tonight!
    I'm having a "Soup" party on New Year's Eve and this could possibly be one of the soups there too..thanks Willow!

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  14. What gaseous memories this brings back .. my Grandmother made an amazing cabbage soup with the left overs of making stuffed cabbage also a specialty that continued to linger long after being eaten

    She put rice, chopped meat, raisins and who knows what else into the stuffed cabbage ... and the soup too had a sweetish taste ... oh Willow now I want some of Grandma Sophie's soup and stuffed cabbage.. and a Beano

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  15. Hmm, never had cabbage soup before. This look yummy, and I most certainly could do with some guilt free food after the past week!

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  16. Ooh, thanks for the cabbage soup recipe. Mmm, looks really good. Have to try that tonight. I love that book, all Steinbeck, really! Valley of the Moon, so beautiful.

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  17. soup is the ideal meal! - at our family get together we had a delicious spicy sausage corn chowder and a three bean taco soup - they were both yummy - you ate too many cookies? - doesn't seem right, does it?

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  18. Sound perfectly wonderful to me.

    Thanks Willow
    Thanks Rachel

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  19. Yumm, that looks so nutricious and a nice break from the high carbs of the hols. I doubt I'd ever make it (not good atthat sort of thing) but can certainly imainge waht this soup would be like...adn of course, better yet when presented in suc a lovely bowl!

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  20. Looks fabulous...I must try it! And who didn't have a few too many cookies? Ugh.

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  21. Oh, I love cabbage soup - and with hash browns, it's got to be delish!
    (...she says, wiping the crumbs of that last piece of kringle from the corners of her mouth.
    Another winner, as usual Willow.

    Kat

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  22. My mom has those same dishes!!! They've had them for years and years... Soup sounds so good, ESPECIALLY after all those cookies. Thanks for the recipe!!

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  23. Guess who's making Cabbage Soup next Monday for dinner??? Come on, guess! Okay, yes, that would be me! :)

    Thanks for the recipe!

    -Sarah

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  24. Sounds great Willow, I'd put the fresh cabbage i last thing though, don't like the house smelling of over cooked cabbage.

    Loved Julie Andrews - first time you could understand every word too!

    A Happy New Year to You and Your splendid Family!

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  25. Comfort food! Great (we've suddenly gone below freezing over here). Hash browns is an interesting twist.

    Turkey paprikash for me tonight. I'd planned on adding the last of the Cabanos but I draw the line at sausages that glow in the dark.

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  26. I shall try this although it sounds somewhat bland. Thanks, and have yourself a wonderful 2009. Cheers!

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  27. Tonight I'm making Pioneer Woman's stir fry. Tomorrow night, this wonderful-looking soup. All is right with the world.

    Your site is so beautiful, Willow. Here's to blogging friends!

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  28. This does look like a comfort food sort of dish. Glad you have put aside american bloomsbury and taken up John Steinbeck.

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  29. Oh Willow that looks delicious! If one day I stop by the mannor, please feed me!!

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  30. Recipe sounds divine. Really like your blog. I love the photos.

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  31. It is good to eat cabbage and your soup looks delicious. Didn't you have a cabbage comfort food listed prior to the holidays? - I tried it and enjoyed it, too. I have found you from Blue Sky Dreaming and just love your blog. I confess to have stopped by many times - only just now writing in.
    Keep up the good work.

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  32. I love cabbage soup....and a Happy New Year to you and yours. Strider

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  33. Cabbage Soup sounds delicious. I've never had it, but I'll certainly try it. I'm always looking for a new soup. I like to make soup on Saturday in a crockpot.

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  34. Hi………
    Absolutely fantastic post! Good job!
    Great! Keep writing…….
    Good week………
    " A Happy New Year''

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  35. I just got back from the store and yes, I bought cabbage!
    I love your photo in the sidebar...view from your kitchen window...lovely.

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  36. Hi Soup Lady.
    Are you wearing your hairnet(sorry :P ).

    Julie Andrew's clip in great.
    Happy New Year, W!

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  37. Yummy, I have to fess up though I started to make your chocolate chip cookies and I shied away because they sounded so decadent theey wouldn't have been safe with me. I need my house devoid of yumminess for a short while.

    I love the Julie Andrews clip. Happy New Year, you wonderful talented bloggy person!

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  38. This would be some seriously dangerous soup around our house...

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  39. I'm fortunate because I didn't over indulge on rich foods. But this cabbage soup looks like it would be a great comfort food for me when the weather turns nasty again (it's snowing as I type).

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  40. Mmmmmmm... soup: good. :)

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  41. Mmmm, I love cabbage! It appears you've once again raised the bar on delicious, Willow! :-)

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)