Cabbage Soup Time Again

My mom sent me this cabbage soup recipe to me many years ago. We love it! So when the weather was a bit cold and dreary last week the idea of making the cabbage soup was a good one. So we got all of the ingredients on our Tuesday weekly grocery store run. The recipe calls for celery so we just get the already chopped up celery rather than start from scratch. We got the package with a bit of carrots and onions as well. My husband got ahead of schedule in the afternoon by chopping up the cabbage, the potatoes and the onions. So all that was left was to start cooking about forty five minutes before dinner time. This time we remembered to add the diced tomatoes - which aren’t called for - at the last minute. It adds a bit of color and taste - especially when you get spiced tomatoes. And at the end we also add in a bit of spinach to give it even more color and taste. The recipe calls for baked beans in spicy tomato sauce - which sounds odd but really works. You essentially can add whatever you like to it and it’s always delicious. Add to that a side salad and it’s the perfect meal for just about any time of the year. Plus I think of mom whenever we make it. 

Cabbage Soup

Even though we are out of winter and the cold months, it’s still good to have soup for dinner. We have a few recipes that we routinely make that last for a few days. Last week it was the stuffed pepper bake. The week before was the shrimp casserole. My husband started putting together his own recipe for an eggplant delight! But this week we decided the cabbage soup recipe would be good. My mom sent us this recipe many, many years ago. It’s actually very simple. But we always add things to in. In particular, diced tomatoes flavored with herbs and then add spinach at the end. It adds a bit of color and texture and taste. It’s all vegetable so you can’t go wrong. The first night we have the soup with salad and bread. But to mix it up a bit we had it as a side dish to a crab cake sandwich the next night and then as a side dish next to pizza last night. It’s going to last for at least another serving but we will finally go out for a Greek pick up dinner this evening. We might even mix it up with all of the variety of things we get at Our Mom Eugenia’s in Great Falls. We rarely go to restaurants any more and really don’t miss it. But about once a week it’s good to take a break and have a bit of something else. But hime made cooking is always best. 

Cabbage Soup

We love soup - and we have a recipe my mom sent to us many years ago. Being Polish, anything made with cabbage is good. So we got a small head of cabbage with the last batch of groceries and thought it was a good time to dig out the recipe. It’s one of the rare times that I help my husband make dinner. He is the cook in the house. My role is more reading the ingredients and instructions rather than actually do any cooking. He usually just puts things together without instructions and it always tastes wonderful. So we started out cutting up the cabbage - making sure to cut out the stem part, cut up the potatoes, and then start the process. You can literally put anything in this soup so we got out the leftover vegetables, and the called for baked beans. We like a tomato flavor so we added some spicy mild diced tomatoes. We had leftover frozen chicken broth, and added in four cups total by using two more cans. Then a little pepper. It doesn’t take long for everything to cook - twenty minutes and then ten more for the vegetables, after the bay leaf is removed. Add to that some naan garlic bread and a salad. It was delicious! My Polish cook book has all kinds of things stuffed in to it. One of these days I need to get refamiliarized with it all. Next up will be unstuffed cabbage rolls - another favorite. It’s the season for soup and comfort food - something we need right about now. 

Cabbage Soup and Pierogi

If you are Polish there are certain food items you grow up with. Pierogi are delicacies that take a lot of time to make - stuffed dumpling dough. We always had two main types - potato & cheese and cabbage & hamburger & onions. And since cabbage is such a well liked item who wouldn’t like cabbage soup? We have a great recipe for it and it’s really good! Rather than make our own pierogi version we always keep well stocked in Mrs T’s from the grocery store. Hers come the closest to what I am most familiar with. The potato and spinach is wonderful, although there are several available variations. So when my husband was thinking of making pierogi the other day for dinner, he usually adds something to it like leftover chicken or bits of ham or tomato something or other. Rather than do the usual additive, he decided the cabbage soup would go well with the potato and cheese pierogi we had on hand. And he was absolutely right. The combination was excellent, although quite filling. So we saved half of the meal for another time. I could eat this sort of thing every day but we do mix it up with our favorite Persian fare - kabobs, yogurt, eggplant - as well as the every day stuff. But being winter, the cabbage soup stands well on its own. 

Whole Foods Trip for Cabbage Soup Ingredient

Who doesn’t love soup? We do - and my husband makes great soup and usually without a recipe. We brought home some leftover turkey from our Christmas dinner with family in Virginia and had a big pot of soup that lasted for a few meals. When we were in the grocery store last Saturday I saw a great looking cabbage. So we decided it would be a good time to make a really good cabbage soup. Unfortunately we forgot to get all the ingredients. Whenever that happened in the past it meant that we had to take a long walk to the grocery store - Harris Teeter that is eleven blocks away or Trader Joe’s that is eight blocks away. It’s okay if we are out for the morning walk, but not when it’s later in the day due to other commitments. Luckily for us the newly opened Whole Foods is just down the street from us. It’s at most a convoluted two blocks or so. So we walked down to the store and picked up a can of diced tomatoes, and also an Italian loaf, our favorite P’tit Basque cheese, an olive assortment from the olive bar, and a piece of watermelon. Whenever we think about moving from this neighborhood we always consider what’s important. Walking, not driving, to places we need to visit is a key consideration. Living in an 1890’s building has its drawbacks, but the location can’t be better. We just can’t seem to decide what’s most important. So as long as we can’t figure it out we’re not going anywhere. Now it’s time to make soup.