Cabbage Soup

I'm not actually doing the Cabbage Soup Diet... well, not AGAIN that is. Depriving yourself does not work, don't kid yourself. However, by swapping your lunch or dinner (or both?) with this, you can make sure you get some extra veggies in, and be sure you are eating a healthy meal. I would advise that you add some sort of protein to the meal you eat this soup with. I had a Weight Watchers string cheese (1 pt) with my bowl. So, here it is:

Cabbage Soup

(not sure of the Weight Watchers points on this, but a similar veggie soup recipe they have on their website is 0 points. I round up to 1 or 2 points, just in case)

Ingredients:

6 large green onions

2 green peppers

1 or 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole)

3 carrots

1 container (10 oz.) mushrooms

1 bunch of celery

Half a head of cabbage

1 package Lipton Soup Mix

1 or 2 cubes of bouillon (optional)

1 48 oz can V8 juice (optional)

Season to taste (salt, pepper, garlic powder, curry, etc.)

Slice green onions, put in a pot and start to saute with cooking spray.

Cut green pepper stem end off and cut in half, take the seeds and membrane out. Cut the green pepper into bite size pieces and add to pot. Take the outer leaf layers off the cabbage, cut into bite size pieces, add to pot. Clean carrots, cut into bite size pieces, add to pot. Slice mushrooms and thick slices, add to pot.

You can use beef or chicken bouillon cubes for seasonings. These have all the salt and flavors you will need.

Use about 12 cups of water (or 8 cups of water and the V8 juice), cover and put heat on low. Let soup cook for about 2 hours.

I changed it up quite a bit; I think you can figure out how to make it the best for you. You can add veggies, remove some you don't like. I would advise starting out with not very much bouillon and soup mix, and slowly add these things bit by bit, so as to not make it too salty. I also advise using more cabbage than it says to. I used almost a full head of it, and it shrinks down to pretty much nothing after cooking.

Word of advice - make sure the pot you are cooking with holds 12 cups of water plus all the things you add. Mine didn't. I think I got about 4 cups of water and all the veggies in.

I don't have the nutritional values for this soup, but most calorie websites have similar soups sitting at about 70 calories for 2 cups. Of course, I always increase my guessed numbers, just in case, so I said 100 calories for 2 cups.

That's all for now folks :)