Mom is going to get mad at me for saying that she never taught me to cook much…but really, she never taught me to cook much.
EDIT: Like I said, Mom got mad at me. So she wanted to also let it be known that she taught me to grill as well. Mom can grill better than any man I know.
I learned at a young age how to make chocolate chip cookies (I will be veganizing them next weekend), which I blame for my sugar addiction a little bit. That said, I didn’t really learn to cook actual food until I took it upon myself in college. But don’t blame her, it’s not really her fault that she didn’t cook with me a lot, because her mother didn’t really teach her to cook either. That, and Dad wasn’t the most adventurous eater around. Anyway…
To make up for her prior shortcomings, she passed on her cabbage soup recipe to me a few years ago. It is not only filling, but it makes great use for all the odds and ends in your fridge and freezer. It’s also really cheap to make a ton of soup.
Anyone else have that soup multiplication problem? When you start cooking, you think that it will make a few servings, and then at the end you have 30 cups of cabbage soup and only 1/4 of a freezer worth of space? Welcome to yesterday.
As promised (and this does make 30 cups for the record) …
Cabbage Soup Recipe:
-16 c. red/green cabbage (thinly sliced)
-3 12 oz. cans diced tomatoes
-2 large onions (I used a red and a Spanish) (diced)
-4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
-4 zucchini/squash (diced)
-1 6 oz. can tomato paste
-2-3 c. green beans (cut into bite size pieces)
-2 bay leaves
-1 T Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base (THIS IS MY JAM. GO GET SOME ASAP.)
-1/4 c. spices (Oregano, Basil, Thyme, Mrs. Dash-whatever you want!)
-2 T oil
-5-10 cans of liquid
Variations: You can also add basically everything but the kitchen sink here. God I kind of hate that phrase…so just add all that extra stuff that is taking up valuable fridge/freezer space. For instance, I sometimes use corn, okra, celery, or chard stems.
Note: Don’t worry about being exact with the ingredients. That’s the beauty of this recipe-you just work with what you’ve got.
Recipe:
1) Saute onions and garlic in oil until translucent.
2) Add in carrots and saute for another 5 minutes.
3) Add in diced tomato, tomato paste, Better Than Bouillon, and enough water to cover the onions and carrots by an inch or two.
4) Bring that up to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, while you chop the rest of your veggies.
5) Add in the rest of the veggies, spices, and water to cover. Let cook for a few hours, until cabbage is tender. It will be stew-y, so feel free to add more vegetable broth to make it more soup-like.
