Sausage and Cabbage Soup

We are a soup family. We love soup! We have soup at least once a week and have recently decided to branch out a bit and try a few new ones. My incredibly lucky husband gets delicious catered lunches at work EVERY day. Every night I ask him (with mouth watering) what he had that day and listen as he tells me about the exotic, fun, and fancy meals he was served that afternoon. Being a SAHM definitely lacks some perks... 

Anyway, one night he told me they had this really good sausage and cabbage soup. I was intrigued because I had never even heard of such a thing and, to be honest, it's probably not something I would normally pick out and want to try. But he raved about this soup! So we just had to try to recreate it. 

I searched online and found a few different recipes and decided to (mostly) follow this one. I like that it seemed pretty simple with lots of yummy veggies. All you have to do is:

• Cook 1 lb sausage (I just used Jimmy Dean) and drain on separate plate.
• Heat olive oil in pan and saute 1 cup diced onion and 3 cloves minced garlic with salt and pepper.
• Add 2-3 diced carrots, 2-3 stalks celery, and 2 potatoes (I didn't use celery root or turnips because, well, I've never actually used them before and this is what I had on hand. Maybe next time?) Cook for about 5 minutes.
• Add about 1/2 head of thinly sliced green cabbage and cook for about 2 minutes.
• Return sausage back to the pan and add 8 cups broth, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and 1 tablespoon thyme.
• Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover, and cook for an hour. Uncover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes. 

I've made this soup twice now and I always forget that you have to cook it forever. If you're starving and can't wait the whole hour, it's still pretty good. It's best to let some of the moisture cook out though. Otherwise it's too brothy. 

You should also know that this makes a LOT of soup. Definitely too much for two people (and a toddler) because we still have some in the fridge even after a week of eating it for leftovers (remember how my husband doesn't have to eat leftovers for lunch anymore? Spoiled). 

I'm so glad we tried this one because it is so good! Flavorful, filling, and loaded with veggies. So why don't you mix things up a bit and try it out this week? Let me know what you think!