Spicy Cabbage Soup

Here is another great guest post/recipe by Maria Rainier! Enjoy!

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Keeping Warm

I can’t speak for everywhere else in the United States, but here in my little corner of the Southeast, it has been an incredibly cold winter, already. News flash: winter just started! Here it is, only the beginning of January, and we have already had snow two or three times. In years past, we would never get snow so early and certainly not in any measurable amount. It’s cold. Hat and glove wearing cold. Red noses, rosy cheeks and chapped lips cold. Cold. Cold, cold, cold.

Can you tell I’m cold?

Weather like this calls for hot meals. I love nothing more than to whip up a slew of soups and stews on a chilly day. It is simple to freeze most of what I make on a Sunday afternoon and then leave one or two containers in the fridge for the upcoming week. My husband and I will eat just about anything, but it isn’t always easy to come up with a meal idea that is warm, healthy and full of ingredients that my picky two-year-old will readily eat. Convincing my little one to pass on the peanut butter and jelly (natural almond butter and homemade strawberry preserves, of course) and have some soup isn’t always easy, but he loves my spicy cabbage and bean soup. Since I know he loves it, I find myself making it a lot and it’s fantastic because you can be totally creative with the recipe based on your own tastes and lifestyle.

Here we go…

Spicy Cabbage and Bean Soup

2 boxes of organic broth (chicken or vegetable)

1 jar of salsa verde

1 can (15 oz.) organic black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz.) organic cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz.) organic diced tomatoes

½ head of organic cabbage, shredded

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine broth, salsa verde, beans and tomatoes. Stir until heated through. Add shredded cabbage and cook until the cabbage has softened. Serve and enjoy.

Seriously. That’s it. Easy, right? You can adjust the spice of the dish by varying the amount of salsa verde. Want more beans? Go for it. Add more organic beans of whatever variety floats your boat. Adore cabbage? Add more cabbage. Just be aware that if you add more beans or cabbage, you may need to add more organic broth to balance it out and keep the appropriate soup consistency.

Stay warm!

Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education and performs research surrounding online degrees. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

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As soon as Maria sent my this recipe I knew I had to make it for all of you. I followed her recipe, for the most part, and it was simple yet delicious! In my version I added chopped cilantro (almost an entire bunch of it), 2 cups of strained tomatoes (that’s all I had on hand) and I sauteed an entire red onion before I added the liquid.

GO EASY on the salsa verde! I added an entire jar of it and it is pretty spicy. I LOVE spicy food so it’s fine for me but if you have spice sensitive people in your household I would only use half.