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 cabbage 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.
• If you want to stretch out the soup so you have more for a crowd and you do not like bell pepper, you may replace that option with other vegetables. Examples include: a cup of round-sliced carrots, 3 chopped celery stalks, or a can of green beans.  Fresh vegetables need to go in under the cabbage.  Canned vegetables may be added in the last 15 minutes of cooking to heat while preventing it from  turning mushy.