posted 03-17-2005 01:36 AM            

1. Too tomatoey - the tomatoes took over the whole soup, and the thing tasted like a V8.
2. Too vinegary.
3. Too peppery - never thought I'd think that.
4. Too cabbagey - naturally.
5. The whole thing looked like vegetable sludge.

Keen to avoid the same mistakes in the second batch, I did a few things differently this time around, and it looks and tastes great now.

I wanted the soup to have a distinct flavor that wasn't cabbage. I really wanted it to resemble a meaty stew, considering I had to eat it for meals. I used the Lipton "Beefy Onion" flavor soup packets instead of the regular Onion - it doesn't actually have any meat in it, and it's got about the same calories as the regular onion flavor, so I'm sure it's ok.

I also got some fresh mushrooms, removed the stems, and sliced up the heads. I sprayed the big soup pot with a quick spray of Pam (no calories), and put the mushrooms and the onions in the bottom of it to sautee. This worked great, since the mushrooms and onions have enough water in them so you don't burn the pot. It also smelled amazing while they were grilling in there - like a philly cheesesteak! Mmmmmm....cheesesteak.

I added the thicker vegetables to the pot on top of the mushroom/onion base - carrots, green beans, peppers, and celery. Then I sprinkled the first packet of dry beefy onion mix over everything and put the lid on the pot to let the other vegetables absorb some of that meaty onion flavor. After about 5 minutes (there's still no water in there, so keep an eye on it), the whole pot had that nice smell, and I mixed everything together.

Next I added about three cups of water to the pot and let it boil in the flavor for a while. Now I had a nice dark soup that still had a good mushroom/onion smell to it. I loaded on the cabbage on top, but this time used about half RED cabbage, which I think is a lot tastier and gives the soup a much darker color. I sprinkled the second package of beefy onion on top of the cabbage, but didn't think it was enough, so (cheating alert) I sprinkled on another (third) package of onion soup mix, this one just plain onion. I put the lid on, and let it soak in the flavor of the boiling soup below for about ten minutes.

This time, I used whole canned tomatoes instead of crushed ones, and removed the tomatoes from the can and chopped them on the cutting board so I had much less tomato juice. I dug a hole in the cabbage mountain and poured all the tomatoes into one spot and quickly buried them with everything else. Then I stirred it all together and let it cook a little more before adding the rest of the water.

I topped the soup off with about 1/2 teaspoon of dried Oregano, a few shakes of dried Red Pepper, and probably 1/4 teaspoon of Garlic Powder.

Since I'd done so much pre-cooking, the soup really only needed about 20-25 more minutes before it was ready. I didn't want the vegetables mushy like last time, so I just stopped it when the carrots were soft but slightly "al dente".

The soup is great - better than I thought it could be. It has a nice dark brown/blood red color, and looks kind of like a thin gravy! Everything tastes a little meaty, and even more importantly, the vegetables know their place - it doesn't taste at all like the celery/cabbage mush from last time. It's more like a very thin stew that someone took all the meat out of. Hopefully it will be as good reheated tomorrow.

posted 03-17-2005 06:35 AM            

I started today . It took me some time getting back on it but I made it. I just wanted to say you're version sounds good. I think when I use the last of the frozen soup I have I will try it. When I make it I will freeze it in the quart size bag to allow me the opportunity to puree some if I get tired of the chunky version of the soup. I'm looking for new ideas because I experienced soup burn-out right before I took a break and I think the variety will help me maintain interest in eating the soup.

I'll be making it over the weekend so i'll let you know how my taste buds respond to it.

Wishing you continued success
Conqueror1