Vegetable Cabbage Soup (Easy and Healthy)

Who doesn’t love soup!? It’s healthy (can be), easy to make and it stores well in the fridge and freezer.

Instead of throwing out leftover cabbage, I used it as an ingredient in a homemade soup. I loosely based it on Mark Bittman’s recipe, : The best vegetable soup ever, no kidding.

Mark Bittman is a former New York Times food columnist and author of many cookbooks (the only cookbooks I still own and use). He has the BEST recipes. (caveat: they are not all healthy). I would have followed his recipe for this soup to a tee, but I didn’t have all of the ingredients at home.

Here is Mark Bittman’s vegetable soup recipe with my modifications in (bold parentheses). My version is delicious and I am sure his would be too. Enjoy!

Recipe: The best vegetable soup ever, no kidding

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup olive oil, more or less ( I used 1/2 cup at the most and that included oil I used to sauté veggies)

• 2 onions, peeled and chopped (I used less)

• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped

• 2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 bunch parsley, washed and chopped, thick stems discarded (I used dried parsley)

• 2 or 3 cabbage leaves, chopped (I used 1/2 of a small cabbage)

• 1 bunch chard, preferably white, washed and chopped (I used Spinach and kale)

• 1/4 cup tomato paste (I used 14.5 ounce can of diced tomato and added the liquid too)

• 3 to 4 cups cooked white beans, like cannelloni, with their liquid if possible (I used two-14.5 ounce can of diced tomato and added the liquid too)

Preparation

Put about a third of the olive oil in the bottom of a deep pot and turn the heat to medium.

Add half the onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften, which takes about 10 minutes.

Add about half of the remaining oil and repeat the process, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go.

Add the remaining oil with the parsley, cabbage and chard and cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is softened but not browned.

Add the tomato paste and stir.

Mash the beans so that they’re about half mashed and half more-or-less whole. Add this mixture to the pot, along with any bean cooking liquid and enough water to make the whole mixture stewy but not watery.

Continue cooking, tasting and adjusting the seasoning as necessary, until all the vegetables are very tender and the soup is hot. Serve hot or warm.

Serving Size

Makes about 10 servings

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