Is It Soup Yet?

 Un-Stuffed Cabbage Soup

The last time I was at Mommy's house, I was browsing through one of her cookbooks* and I commented that many of the recipes looked like ones I'd like to try. She said, "Take it home with you. I mostly use the recipes on your blog anyway. So if you make them and post them there, I'm more likely to cook them." Sounded like a good deal to me.

So, Mommy, here you go. I'm not sure who in your household will like this one, but your non-soup loving Daddy-O ate three bowls of it. I take that as a thumbs up. It was easy to make. Ready to eat pretty quick because I had cooked some boil-in-the-bag brown rice the day before I made the soup.

It is a hearty soup. (I called it a "manly" soup but Daddy-O gave me the evil eye.) It has meat and rice in it. A stick-to-your-ribs kind of soup. I tucked some away in the freezer for later. I love knowing I have something stored for a busy day.

UN-STUFFED CABBAGE SOUP

1 lb. lean ground beef ((93% lean)
1-1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 (14.5 oz) cans petite diced tomatoes
1 (6 oz) can tomato sauce
5 cups Swanson unsalted beef stock (couldn't find unsalted, so used regular)
4 cups chopped green cabbage
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cooked brown rice

Brown ground beef, sprinkled with 1/4 teaspoon salt, in a large pot over medium high heat. Drain any fat. Add onion, garlic, paprika and thyme and cook over medium-low until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef stock and cabbage and season with remaining salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer until cabbage is tender, abobut 35 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add cooked rice and simmer 5 more minutes before serving.

Serves 8       WW Smart Points: 3 per serving

Freezes really well.


This is one time when I think the petite diced tomatoes make a difference. Usually I'll use whichever cans I have on hand. But I really liked the smaller pieces in this soup.

Can I share a basic kitchen tip? If you gather the canned items, chop the vegetables, and measure the herbs before you start the soup, it all goes together in a flash. That also keeps you from discovering that you are out of thyme or tomato sauce after you have browned the meat. (Ask me how I learned this.)

*Check out SkinnyTaste.com for info about her cookbook.

Ha! If some of you are thinking, "This blog post is an old one" you'd be right. In the process of updating the post with information about how well it freezes and adding WW points, I managed to post it again. No matter. The recipe is that good