Italian Bread & Cabbage Soup

Dear GOD!  This is one of the tastiest things I've ever made and I have the wonderful Jamie Oliver to thank for it.

I love Jamie Oliver's show "Jamie at Home" which is where I discovered this recipe:

Italian Bread and Cabbage Soup with Sage Butter 

It was part of an episode that addressed winter vegetables! I also, totally covet his outdoor kitchen.


Last time I made this soup, I seriously flubbed the amount of cabbage I cooked and made enough to feed an army. I was eating it practically 3 times a day for two weeks.

(This was also the time I began my love affair with beer...and this dish goes so well with a nice ale. I'm pretty sure I gained about 10 pounds).

I can imagine myself getting the cabbage, rosemary and sage out of my own garden and putting the piping hot dish in the middle of a big beat up wooden kitchen table...ready for everyone to dig in.  It seems meant for a group.  But I'll do my best to polish it off all on my own.  ;)

This time around I made it a much more realistic size...with red cabbage & kale. I really like this recipe because you can follow it loosely and it still comes out unbelievably delicious. An easy, hearty winter meal...comfort food to the max.

And I have to say...even with having a lot of it, I still enjoy the last bowl as much as the first.

XO

Seafood Soup Improv

I was reminded, last week, about how important it is to eat fatty fish...like salmon.  Something my diet had been lacking.  So to remedy that, I decided to make some sort of fish soup using easy ingredients.


Fresh Direct is fantastic in that you can buy pre cut this and that (I'm sure this is true for a lot of grocery stores). This time, I took advantage of the package of Soup Greens and Fish Cubes (I love using the fish cubes to make soup).

You still have to do a little bit of chopping, but it's minimal.

Last year I made a different, but still very much improvised, seafood soup

Everything I, basically, needed

Here's what I used:

1 Package Soup Greens (onion, red potato, turnip, parsnip, carrot, celery, parsley...) cut into cubes

1 Package Fish Cubes (in this case it was a mix of salmon and tuna, I think)

2 32 oz. Cartons of organic vegetable stock

Garlic Croutons

A couple handfuls of frozen spinach

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

Chili Powder

Salt

Pepper

1/2 tsp Powdered Kelp *optional*

I cooked the onion in some olive oil until they began to soften (about 5 minutes) and added garlic, salt and chili powder, sauteed for another 2 min.  Then I added the rest of the cubed veggies.

Next I added the stock and brought it all to a boil and then let simmer for about 20 minutes.

Then I added the fish.  Let simmer for another 5 minutes...and added the spinach. Simmer, Simmer Simmer!

In the end, I believe I added some ground lemon peel and the kelp for an added boost of nutrition.

Garnish with the garlic croutons...YUMMY!!!

XO

Spicy Chorizo Soup

I made this soup while staying at my cousin's house last month (Family Affair, Part 2)...but that was my second go at it!

The first time I made this soup I used black and garbanzo beans, seaweed and buttermilk.

1 medium onion
1 can black beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 small can diced tomatoes
1 carton organic tomato soup
1 carton chicken stock
1 package chorizo sausage
Organic kelp sheets
Chili powder
Cumin
Garlic powder
Cayenne


I pretty much made it up as I went along...and started by cutting up the sausage and cooking it in a large pot with the onion (chopped)...then adding the beans and spices (dashes of each). Next I put the cartons of tomato soup and chicken stock in and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Then I added strips of kelp until I was happy and adjusted the spices to taste (I made it on the spicy side). Then I just let it simmer away on low until I felt it was ready :) Maybe another 15-20 minutes.

After I dished some out, I added a dollop of buttermilk to the bowl.

Yum!

*Adding corn might be nice!*

This is another one of my non-recipes...but as you can see, it's really easy and you can switch it up every time!  These types of soups are great "clean out the pantry" types of meals.

XO