Cabbage and Sausage Soup

So I had some cabbage to use up and found this recipe online. Tons of veggies, so I had little faith that my girls would eat it. They love sausage though, so I called it sausage stew and they loved it! Both of them ate the entire bowl for dinner and again for lunch 2 days later. Awesome! I do love a good bowl of soup/stew on a winter day. I used Jimmy Dean reduced fat sausage instead of the links and Better than Bouillon paste (from costco) instead of the cubes.

Cabbage and Smoked Sausage Soup

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Servings: 8

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound smoked sausage, sliced

4 cups chicken broth

1 head cabbage, coarsely chopped

3 carrots, sliced

3 stalks celery, sliced

1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

1 (15 ounce) can red beans, with liquid

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 teaspoons (or 2 cubes) beef bouillon

1/2 teaspoon crushed dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried basil

Cook the onion, garlic, and sausage in a skillet over medium heat until lightly browned. Transfer to a crock pot. Pour in broth. Mix in cabbage, carrots, celery, rice, beans, tomato sauce, and crushed tomatoes. Add remaining seasonings. Bring to a boil. Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-7 hours. (Until vegetables are tender and rice is cooked.)

Potato Cheese Soup

I got this recipe from my friend Sherri Wiltbank. It is SO good! Every bit as good and thick as a really fattening chowder recipe, but the only fat in here is from a cup of cheese and the 1% milk I used! Even my picky girls ate all their soup!

6 cups chopped, peeled potatoes
2 cups water
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion (I added one cup instead)
(I added 1 cup of corn also)
1 tsp parsley flakes
1 tsp salt
dash pepper (more to taste)
2 cubes chicken bouillon (I added 1 Tbsp chicken bouillon powder instead)
3 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used colby-jack)

Combine all ingredients except for milk, flour, and cheese in a large pot. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Pour the milk in a blender, add the flour, and blend until smooth.Or, in a bowl, gradually add milk to flour, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add milk mixture to soup, add cheese, and cook until thickened and cheese is melted. If you like, you can put about 1/2 the soup in the blender and puree it. Then add it back in with the rest of the soup and it will be extra thick and creamy!

Next time I'm going to turn this soup into clam chowder by adding a couple cans of clams and omitting the cheese and corn....