Making Cabbage Soup

Hi everyone,

Put on the pot, because it is time to try and check off one of my New Year's resolutions.....Diet! Hopefully it will start off well with this yummy looking soup! This photo shows all the vegetables with some nice low-fat chicken broth over it. I added some herbs (love Rosemary in soup!) and some water and it is simmering. The recipe calls for tomatoes, but you know me and recipes. I decided to make a roux later, add a small bit of cheese (there goes the diet!) , forget the tomatoes, and thicken it, add some low fat milk and have cream of veggie soup, instead of cabbage soup.

Sometimes I wonder why I can't just follow a recipe. Is it because I am a defiant person at heart? Or am I just being creative. The latter, I hope. I almost never follow a recipe exactly. And I really think my success rate is higher than the failure rate! If this soup isn't exactly diet soup, it will at least be healthy. It has cabbage and broccoli from my garden, carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, red and green peppers, parsley, a tiny touch of garlic, low sodium chicken broth, low fat milk. Did I mention that I plan to fry up some bacon really crisp to sprinkle on the top of the soup. Oh, no. There I go again!

Here is the original recipe:

Dolly Parton's Diet Cabbage Soup

1 head of cabbage, shredded or chopped

2 large onions, chopped

16-28 ounces of canned tomatoes, crushed

2 peppers, one red, one green, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

6 carrots, sliced

black pepper

any fresh herb(s) that you like

Optional 1/2 lb green beans, sliced

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Add all to a big pot, and cover with water and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are soft. Stir in pepper and herbs.

Eat as much as you like, whenever you like.

Note: on her diet, Dolly ate fruit some days and other days chilcken broiled and of course, all the soup she wanted!