Clean yourself up (and out!) with simple and tasty cabbage soup!!

Cabbage gets so little love and I don’t know why. 

It’s a great addition to casseroles, soups, and salads, but it shines as the star of cabbage rolls, coleslaw, and sauerkraut. 

What’s not to love?

You guys know how I operate. Recipe first, deets to follow.

Oh yeah, and by-the-by, don’t confuse this recipe with that cabbage soup diet plan. That is not what this recipe is. Yes, it might be similar, maybe even the same, but there is no plan here. It just tastes good and it’s really good for your insides. I make no promise that you’ll lose weight. Yeah, you might, but if you’re too dense to understand that if you eat soup for ten days (almost any soup, Einstein) you’ll lose ten pounds of water weight that you will immediately find again when you start eating your regular diet, then there’s no hope for you. Move along. My recipes are not for you.

Simple Tasty Cabbage Soup

Ingredients

6 cups stock or broth (chicken, veggie, whatever does it for you. I use 6 cups of spring water and a tablespoon of garlic-flavored Better Than Bouillon and it is totes good in this recipe. Just mind the extra salt when adding other ingredients)

3 cups cabbage, any color (a little perspective: 3 cups is approximate. I took a head of cabbage, sliced of one side, about 4 inches deep, and then shredded it.)

1 10-oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies

½ cup rice, any type. Go cray with wild rice. Botan and jasmine are fab, too. Hell, use Minute Rice if that’s all you have on hand. (but would you have that shit in your house?)

1 small, sweet onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper (I used at least twice as much because I like pepper!

As many teaspoons (and any combination) of chili powder, parsley, chives, thyme, or onion and/or garlic powder (Or salt if you remove the salt noted above. Or add it anyway. I don’t care, it’s your soup)

As much hot sauce as you want. I like Frank’s because it tastes the best, but it’s not really that hot, so go to town on your fave.

Method

· If you’re using Better Than Bouillon, dump a tablespoon into a big saucepan and add 1 cup of water. Whisk until dissolved, and add the rest of the water.

· If you use broth, add it to the saucepan and then dump in all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30–45 minutes, until cabbage is tender.

· Remove from heat, add more hot sauce, and enjoy!

Notes

• Use as much garlic as you want. I think I ended up with 4 cloves, but I measure garlic with my heart, not my measuring cup.
• Add an extra can of tomatoes and chilies if you’re game. Use hot instead of mild, if you can find it, and if you dare.
• Garnish this with anything you want. Parsley, chives, green onions, cheese, croutons, tortilla strips, the sky’s the limit. 
• You can literally add ANY other vegetables you want. You can add all of them if that makes you smile. Try some potatoes or other root veggies. Green peppers? Yes! Spinach? Go for it! Kale? {Gasp!} Absolutely!
• Add pasta instead of rice for a more filling soup and possible main course. Try ravioli, tortellini, or cappelletti. Mmmm, pasta. 
• You can add meat if you wanna. The go-to would be ground beef (think loose cabbage rolls) but try shredded chicken if you gotta have animal in your soup.

Cabbage Gets A Bad Wrap

It’s really dumb. This is one versatile vegetable, and it checks a lot of nutrition boxes. 

One cup (89 g rams) of raw green cabbage packs: 

• 85% RDI of Vitamin K
• 54% RDI Vitamin C
• 10% RDI Folate
• 2 grams fiber
• 1 gram protein
• Plus it contains manganese, Vitamin B6, calcium, potassium, and magnesium
• Cabbage also contains small amounts of micronutrients, including Vitamin A, iron, and riboflavin
• All that and it only has 22 calories

WHY AREN’T YOU EATING CABBAGE??!!

Plus, cabbage is cheap. (Even organic.) Big thumbs up! 

And it lasts forever. Truly. Pop a head of cabbage in your fridge’s veggie crisper and it lasts like a year. Okay, cupla months. Better than throwing out that obligatory bag of chopped salad greens, Spanky.

If your head of cabbage is getting questionably un-fresh? Make sauerkraut!!! All you have to do is shred some cabbage, add a little salt, pack it into a Mason jar, and let it sit on the counter for a few days. Voilà! Sauerkraut! Cabbage is so amaz-balls that it makes its own damn brine while in the jar.

Also? Cabbage is stinken good for you. 

Look it:

1. It’s good for your heart (and not just because it makes you fart.) 
2. Cabbage keeps your gut healthy. 
3. It does amazing things for your skin. I. Am. Not. Even. Kidding.
4. No, it doesn’t make you burn fat, (no food does that on its own, my chickies) but it does wonders for weight loss when you add it to your diet. 
5. Cabbage helps lower blood pressure, helps normalize blood sugar, and aids kidney function. 
6. Cruciferous vegetables (the veggie category that includes cabbage, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, and kale (there’s that pesky kale word again….) may reduce inflammation. And no, not just using cabbage leaves to wrap your knees or breasts. 

Those are just a few of the reasons cabbage makes your body healthier. 

It’s not gonna kill ya to eat cabbage, ya big baby. 

Time to adult up. 

Get your pointy nose out of the air and give cabbage a shot!