Stuffed Cabbage Soup

For those of you following the meal plan, you may be thinking, "What!? Cabbage soup? The meal plan says Philly Mac n Cheese." I know. I'm losing it. This morning I took the meat out of the freezer to thaw for this soup. I double checked all of the ingredients. And then, right before I began cooking, I looked at the meal plan and realized that I was supposed to make something else. Oops. So, everything is getting pushed back one day to make room for this delicious Stuffed Cabbage Soup.

A while back, a friend suggested that I make stuffed cabbage for this blog. I've never actually made stuffed cabbage before, but it sounds wonderful. When I read this recipe, the wheels started turning. I could still acheive the flavor of stuffed cabbage, but skip the labor intensive "stuffing" step. I got this recipe from another food blog. Would you believe that when I got the amazing idea to start a meal planning and cooking blog back in October, I had never looked at another cooking blog? It's true. I'd seen "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" once or twice because there is a link on another blog that I read. But, beyond this one famous cooking blog, I thought that my idea was pretty original. Now that I'm a food blogger, I realize that I was living under a rock as far as the food blogging community is concerned. There are countless cooking blogs. Countless. Now that I've discovered the world of cooking blogs, I turn to my fellow food bloggers from time to time for inspiration, tips, the occasional funny story, and of course, recipes. This recipe came from My Tasty Treasures by Donna, another cooking and baking blog that I love to read when I catch a chance. She is FUNNY! She got the recipe from Rachael Ray.

Here we go! The recipe calls for 1-1/2 lbs. of meatloaf mix. That's a mixture of beef, veal, and pork. I have a whole freezer full of beef, so I just used straight up ground beef.


Brown the meat with the spices: Paprika, coriander, ground allspice, salt, and pepper. You'll throw in the bay leaf later. This recipe calls for smoked paprika. I only had regular. I even asked the stock boy to help me find the smoked version. No luck.



Next, I added the onion, minced garlic, diced carrot, and bay leaf. Cook and stir until the veggies are tender.


It wouldn't be stuffed cabbage soup without the cabbage. You need a 3/4 lb. head of Savoy cabbage. I had this head of cabbage stashed in my garage refrigerator. Somehow it froze. Bummer. Lucky for me, it still worked out. Although, slicing through that frozen cabbage was a little tricky.





Toss the thinly sliced cabbage into the pot and cook and stir while it wilts.


And now for the next three ingredients: a quart of chicken stock, 28 oz. of diced tomatoes, and 1 cup of tomato juice.What's that in the background, you might ask. That's my messy "in" box and the arm of a glow worm that made his way downstairs after naptime. Welcome to my kitchen. Anyway, add these ingredients(minus the lovey and mass of preschool papers, coupons, and bills) to the pot and give it a good stir. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.


Let's go ahead and begin cooking the rice. I heated my saucepan over medium high heat with about 2 tablespoons of oil. Dumped in the rice and heated it up a little. Added 2 cups of chicken stock. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat and cover. Cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes.


While the soup simmers and the rice cooks, I chopped my parsley and dill.


Add the herbs to the soup.


Now you're ready to serve it up. You can dish up the soup and put a scoop of rice on top to serve it up pretty OR...


go ahead and dump the rice on into the soup and stir it together.



Stuffed Cabbage Stoup.. ALA Rachael Ray

Ingredients
4 tablespoons EVOO , divided
1 cup raw white rice
1 quart plus 2 cups chicken stock, divided
1 ½ pounds ground meatloaf mix
½ teaspoon allspice
1 ½ teaspoons coriander
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Salt
pepper
1 bay leaf
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, thinly sliced, and chopped
¾ lb head Savoy cabbage thinly sliced
1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes
1 cup tomato sauce
Handful flat leaf parsley chopped
3 tablespoons dill, finely chopped
Directions

For rice: Heat a saucepot over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. Add the rice and toss to coat in oil. Add 2 cups chicken stock,bring to a simmer, cover and cook 16 to 18 minutes or until the rice is tender.
Heat a deep pot over medium high heat. Ad the remaining EVOO, once hot add meat and begin to brown. 2 to 3 minutes. Season meat with allspice, coriander, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Add bay leaf, onions, garlic, and carrots. Cook veggies 2 to 3 minutes to begin to soften them, then add cabbage and wilt it down a bit. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and remaining stock and cover the pot. Raise the heat to igh and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes. Once your rice is cooked, add to the soup and continue to simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in your parsely and dill, adjust salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

*if you're new to Rachael Ray, as am I, you may be interested in the following translations:
Stoup = "Thinner than a stew, but thicker than a soup"
EVOO = oil

From Katie's Kitchen: Baked Potato Soup

I am away from my kitchen for a long weekend "back home". I sit typing the introduction to this post in my dad's cushy, leather recliner. No laundry to fold, no dishes to wash and put away. What's for dinner? I don't know. I'll leave that up to the lady who taught me to read my first recipe. Good old mom. This afternoon, instead of thinking about what I need to defrost or chop for dinner, I'll be heading to the spa for a massage while someone else watches my children. Yes, life is good!

I can't leave all of you cooks and meal planners hanging, so my cousin-in-law (that's right, my cousin's wife),Katie, has generously offered to handle dinner this evening. She's the mother of 3 beautiful children and a fellow blogger. You can check out the adventures of her family at This Crazy Life. In addition to being a great mommy and blogger, it looks like she's a pretty darn good cook too. Just check out this Baked Potato Soup! Yummy!



Here's the line up: Potatoes, milk, butter, flour, cheese, bacon, sour cream, and green onions.


First clean, peel, cube, and boil the potatoes. I like to use Yukon gold but whatever you have on hand will do.


Start cooking the bacon. I always do mine in the microwave because it is easier and you have less of a mess on your stovetop. My mom always said one minute per strip of bacon. That seems to work well for me, but it probably depends on your microwave.




While you are waiting on the potatoes and the bacon, chop the green onions and set them aside.


When the potatoes are about halfway done melt the butter in a large soup kettle ( or the biggest pot you have).


Stir in the flour until smooth. Gradually add the milk and stir it constantly until it is thick. The recipe says to cool the potatoes, but I always drain them and add them straight to the soup. It never made sense to me to cool the potatoes just to heat them up again. Add the onions. You may want to reserve a few for garnish. Bring the soup to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.


Don't forget about the bacon. You probably need to put another batch in the microwave by now. Start crumbling whatever bacon is done.


After the potatoes and onions are done simmering, add the remaining ingredients. Again, reserve a few for garnish if you like that sort of thing. Stir until the cheese is all melted and then...


...serve!



Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

2/3 c. butter

2/3 c. flour

7 c. milk

4 large baking potatoes (peeled, cubed, boiled, and cooled) or 4 cups

4 green onions

12 strips bacon (cooked and crumbled)

1 1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 (8 oz.) c. sour cream

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. white pepper

First clean, peel, cube, and boil the potatoes. I like to use Yukon gold but whatever you have on hand will do. Start cooking the bacon. I always do mine in the microwave because it is easier and you have less of a mess on your stovetop. My mom always said one minute per strip of bacon and that seems to work well for me, but it probably depends on your microwave. While you are waiting on the potatoes and the bacon chop the green onions and set them aside. When the potatoes are about halfway done melt the butter in a large soup kettle ( or the biggest pot you have). Stir in the flour until smooth. Gradually add the milk and stir it constantly until it is thick. Now I know the recipe says to cool the potatoes, but I always drain them and add them straight to the soup. It never made sense to me to cool the potatoes just to heat them up again. Add the onions. You may want to reserve a few for garnish. Bring the soup to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Don't forget about the bacon. You probably need to put another batch in the microwave by now. Start crumbling whatever bacon is done. After the potatoes and onions are done simmering add the remaining ingredients. Again, reserve a few for garnish if you like that sort of thing. Stir until the cheese is all melted and then serve!


*Side note. If you have picky eaters in your house like Krista and I do you may want to try a variation. Besides being picky, my kiddos don't like a lot of meat so this is what I do.

When the potatoes have been drained and put into the soup kettle, save the pot you cooked them in and put it back on the stove. Before adding the onions, ladle out some of the soup and put it back in the original potato pot. Then follow the rest of the directions accordingly omitting the onions and bacon. In general, they don't notice the sour cream and they like the potatoes and the cheese. That way I only make one meal but have a kid friendly version of it!

Thanks, Katie!