Cabbage & Tomato Soup with a Beet

Cabbage & Tomato Soup

Cabbage is very popular in Ukrainian cooking, which is a part of my husband's heritage.  My mother-in-law makes a variety of soups using cabbage, as it's common for Ukrainians to either start a meal with a light soup or eat a hearty soup as a meal on its own.  

I am very adamant about buying organic vegetables, especially the ones that grow underground.  Root vegetables such as onions and carrots are always organic in my home, as I do as much as I possibly can to avoid cooking foods with heavy metals.

It's RARE you will see me use canned foods even though they're listed in my recipes.  I will use a glass jar of Passat before using a can of tomatoes.  Only in rare circumstances will I use canned tomatoes, beans, etc.  You will never see me cook with aluminum pots and pans.  I only use stainless steel, cast iron, or glass baking dishes and line my cookie sheets with parchment paper.

While shopping at Loblaws last week, I was able to pick up a larger variety of organic vegetables.  They have such a great layout and make it so easy to find their organic foods between their purple markers.  The cost of their organics is so much more reasonable compared to the other grocery stores in my neighbourhood.  

I only buy fruits and vegetables between the purple markers at Loblaws and base my meals on what I'm able to find.  Some weeks there's such a vast variety of organics and some weeks this section is scarce.  Last week, I was lucky and for this reason will be cooking a lot of vegetable soups this week.

Ingredients:

Oil

1 onion

2 carrots
2 celery sticks (optional)

1 large red beet

1 can tomato sauce, jar of Passat OR fresh or frozen tomatoes

4 potatoes  (cut up 3 and leave 1 as a whole)

Cold water

1 small young cabbage

1 beef Bovril

Dill (optional)

1. Dice onions, beets, potatoes.  Slice celery (optional) and grate carrots.  Slice small head of cabbage.  
2. Sauté diced onions in oil and then fill half the pot with water and bring to a boil.
3. Add all cut up vegetables, including 3 potatoes that have been cut into small pieces + 1 whole.
4. Add more water if necessary so that all vegetables are covered and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer.
5.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Once the whole potato is cooked, remove from pot and mash with a fork.  Return potato to simmering pot of vegetables. 
7.  Once cabbage is soft, add 1 tomato sauce
8. Add dill for taste (optional).