Darn! It’s the end of January and I forgot to lose weight! Don’t you hate it when that happens? The problem is that cooking, eating, and entertaining are about my favorite things to do. You’ll probably notice that exercising and counting calories didn’t make the list, so we’ll just go back to cooking. Cooking nutritious foods isn’t a chore at all. It’s fun to use fresh ingredients and combine them in ways to make delicious and creative dishes for family and friends. Everything just has to taste great or it isn’t worth the effort. You might as well eat something frozen out of a cardboard box that says lean or healthy or mentions a beach.
A really tasty vegetable soup with lots of veggies and plenty of flavor seemed like a perfect recipe to jump start a bit of healthy eating. First stop – the refrigerator. There were the usual suspects, carrots, celery, and onions. There were bell peppers because they’re on sale this week, half of a cabbage left from weekend coleslaw, and green beans, our vegetable staple. There was a stray cauliflower that was supposed to have been included in a vegetable and dip platter, but somehow it got left out. All in all- not a bad line up for a vegetable soup. Some canned tomatoes and kidney beans rounded out the vegetable list. The rest was a piece of cake (see, it always comes back to cake!). But cake aside, this soup was just perfect, rich, delicious, full of vegetables and seasoned with a tasty amount of dried herbs. I admit to a grating of Parmesan cheese on top to achieve soup perfection. This recipe would be marvelous for a rainy night supper with a grilled cheese sandwich on the side. Another benefit is having enough to freeze a few individual portions. It’ll be easy to pass on those frozen cardboard cartons when a delicious and actually good for you homemade soup is just a microwave moment away. I feel thinner already and it’s still January!
Ingredients * see note
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper (any color), chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cups cabbage, chopped
1 cup cauliflower, chopped
1½ cups green beans, sliced in one inch pieces
5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
15 oz can pureed or diced tomatoes
8 oz can tomato paste
15 oz can kidney beans, drained
1 bay leaf
1 tsp each, basil and oregano
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups spinach
· Use what you have. I would have loved some corn and okra to add to the pot!
Directions
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot or Dutch oven.
Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic and cook until softened, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Add carrot, cabbage, green beans and cauliflower to the pot and sauté until softened.
Add broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and spices.
Bring to a boil, lower heat and let simmer partially covered for 20 to 25 minutes until vegetables are soft.
Add spinach and simmer another 10 minutes.
Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you really want a treat!
