White Bean & Cabbage Soup

Posted by chuckwagon

February 9, 2008

This White Bean Soup is so healthy for you there’s no way it should taste so good. When we make soup around here, we use the “big” stockpot because 1) we really like soup and 2) it freezes well to have another day when we don’t feel like cooking. Are you ready for some soup?

1 16oz bag of Great Northern Beans
1 small head of cabbage - shredded
1small onion - chopped
2 carrots - chopped
3 stalks of celery - chopped
6 cups of chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 lb kielbasa or sausage of choice
1 teaspoon of basil
¼ teaspoon powered garlic or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1½ cups of small pasta such as Ditalini

The night before or early in the day, sort the beans and remove anything foreign. (Rocks, bad beans, pieces of stem)Then wash them thoroughly. Soak them in hot water about two inches above beans.

While your beans are soaking, wash and shred the cabbage. I pressure mine for about 30=45 minutes. Or cook it in a pot until its tender. Drain and set aside in a bowl.

The next morning or that afternoon, drain the beans. Rinse and add fresh water. If using a pressure cooker, boil them for about 15 minutes to soften any loose skins. Then skim them off before pressuring.

Add the carrots - celery and onion when water has cooked down to ? the depth of the cooker. Pressure them for about 45 minutes or cook until tender.

(This is a prehistoric method of knowing how long to pressure anything but it works for me every time. It’s simple - when you have a strong scent of what ever you are pressuring, remove the cooker from the heat, place in the sink and run cold water over it. When you no longer hear “hissing”, carefully remove the weight and lid and check the beans. If you misjudged, just pressure for a while longer.)

Remove the casing from the sausage, slice and then quarter the pieces. In a large stockpot, brown the sausage, and then add the cabbage, beans, garlic, basil, tomatoes and broth. Simmer for 30-45 minutes. Add the pasta and cook until it’s tender. Adjust salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve in bread bowls or with crusty bread. Enjoy!

Hint: You can make this soup in your crock-pot. It will take all day, which makes it great for those busy working mothers (like Shellie)

Soak the beans overnight and have the rest of the ingredients cut. Throw everything except the pasta in your crock-pot in the morning and enjoy when you get home and want nothing more to do than put your feet up and relax! (Don’t forget to add the pasta before those feet go up)

If you ain’t sweatin, it ain’t chili,

Chuckwagon 505

PS. Be very careful, this is so good you can hurt yourself by eating way too much! Trust me, I’ve been there.

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Soups