Is there anything better than a good bowl of hearty, warm soup after the first snowfall of the year?
Soup is the perfect meal to cozy up with in winter… especially us who are about to be freezing our butts off here in Canada.
Not only does it warm you from the inside out, but it’s also a fantastic way to pack in nutrition with every spoonful.
A well-made big bowl of soup can serve as a complete, nutritious, balanced meal.
With the right ingredients, a winter soup can deliver all the comfort of a classic dish while keeping you fuelled and satisfied through the coldest months.
Starting your soup from a bone broth is the best way to get those nutrients we aren’t getting from the rest of our diet.
Bone broth is good for digestion, healthy skin and joints, and supports your immune system which are all things that could use some extra support in those winter months.
Bonus – its super easy to make – no reason to be intimidated! You can make it as simple or complex as you want, but regardless it’s still very simple.
Homemade Broth
Get some soup bones:
- Use a left over chicken carcass from dinner or from a rotisserie chicken in store.
- Use left over bones from a roast, ham, ribs, or steaks. The type of bones don’t matter.
- Buy beef soup bones from the meat department (sometimes you have to ask for them).
- Cook a whole chicken in a slow cooker to use the meat and the bones in your soup!
Add 2-3lbs of bones with 10-12 cups of water and 1tbsp apple cider vinegar (optional). Cook for 12-24 hours. You can speed this up dramatically with an instant pot if you have one.
If you want to make it more fancy with more flavours, add in an onion, a couple carrots, some celery and a bay leaf.
Add salt and pepper to your liking – DONE. Use 1/2 for soup and freeze the rest in a ziplock bag for your next pot of soup!
Okay, now for the soup:
In a large pot:
Cook 2lb of ground beef.
Remove from the pot.
Add in butter, cabbage, onion and garlic and saute for 15-20 minutes until tender or starts to caramelize.
Add in apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and cook for a few minutes until vinegar is mostly evaporated.
Add in the broth, beef, tomatoes, paprika, basil, parsley and rice.
Simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is cooked.
Add salt to taste.
Recipe:
- 2 lb beef
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/2 head large green cabbage
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1-3 tbsp brown sugar (depends on how sweet you prefer)
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 4-6 cups beef broth
- 726mL Can diced tomatoes
- 1/2c rice
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
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