Shirley’s Simple Cabbage Roll Soup

Do you like cooked cabbage but find it a bit bland?  Do you like cabbage rolls but find them too much work?  Well here is a quick and easy recipe you might like to try.  I was trying to find something to do with cabbage and going through recipe books.  I took what I liked from a few recipes and came up with this Cabbage Roll Soup variation of my own.

Simple Cabbage Roll Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb of meat

1 medium onion, chopped

1 pkg cole slaw mix

1 bell pepper (optional)

2 cans lowfat beef stock

1 large can diced tomotaoes

1 cup long grain white rice

Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1.    Brown meat, onion, and bell pepper in a stew/soup pot, drain fat.

2.    Wilt the lettuce for 2 minutes on top of the meat mix.

3.    Add canned ingredients and seasonings.  Bring to a boil.

4.    Stir in rice and watch for soup to return to boiling.

5.    Then cover pot and cook 40 minutes on simmer.

Tips:

• You can us any type of meat you like in this soup.  We prefer a mild pork sausage or hamburger for beef.  I use sage flavored sausage when I make it for my mother. Many similar recipes call for stew meat to be used instead of ground round.  We have also made this with ground turkey or canned chicken.
• Buy the cole slaw mix that is just cabbage and carrots or use 1/2 head of cabbage finely chopped.  Cabbage mix is usually larger than the slaw version that comes with dressing.  Dressing is not needed. 
• If you do not do the wilt step, the cabbage acts like dried pasta or rice in a soup.  In other words it soaks up most of the liquid so the soup is more dry with less broth.  So do not skip step 2 above if you like lots of broth!
• You can use other types of rice like brown or wild if you prefer the taste or nutrition they provide.  Or if you want to make it more low-calorie, leave out the rice.