Vegetable Soup

Today is our Polar Vortex. We woke up to a temperature of -23, with a wind chill of -45.   I am a public school teacher so I am very lucky to be home safe and warm.  Since the Governor cancelled school last week I was able to prepare for 1 to 2 days of being in the house. After having chili yesterday the next best meal to make when it's this cold is soup.  I decided to make my two favorites today and tomorrow; Vegetable and Cabbage.  At first they may seem similar, but other than the vegetables, they are really very different.  The vegetable soup uses olive oil and sautes the veggies, and the cabbage soup simply boils them.

I found this recipe in some magazine years ago, probably in some doctors office's waiting room where I ripped it out and took it home!  It has everything in it I love- vegetables and beans!  I have made changes to the original recipe so this my final version.   Don't be alarmed by the amount of olive oil, it disappears.

I like to make a batch of this soup on a Sunday afternoon and then have it for dinner on Monday, and then freeze the rest of it in single serving containers.  That way after a long day at work, when we don't want to cook, but we still want a warm, healthy, hearty, home-cooked meal we can just take container out of the freezer and enjoy!

Raw veggies.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 medium size cabbage, chopped
1- 9 oz, box chopped frozen spinach *see note
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 to 4 cups cannellini beans, drained

Cooking the veggies. 

Put about a third of the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat.  Add half each of the chopped onions, carrots and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften ( about 10 minutes). Add half of the remaining oil and repeat the process, with each layer sprinkle with salt and pepper as you go. Add the last of the oil with the parsley and cabbage and cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is softened but not browned.  Adjust the heat as needed.

Add the tomato paste and stir.  Add the beans, leaving some of them more or less whole, and add them to the pot.   Add spinach. *I cook the spinach in the microwave according the directions on the package.  Once cooked put them in a colander and using the back of a fork push down to thoroughly drain the water out of the spinach.   Stir in and cook.  Adjust seasonings.  Add enough water to cover, making the pot stewy, not watery.

I added a bit more water because it will reduce while I'm letting it simmer. 

Keep tasting and adjusting as necessary, until all vegetables are tender and the soup is hot.  If it starts to reduce too much you can always add more water to cover.  I like this to be more of a stew than a soup.

One container of soup ready for the freezer.