Ellen and Joes Wellness Soup (They can this for the winter or just to have a healthy and convenient meal when they are busy.)

  • 2 pounds Red gold potatoes
  • 1 medium to large head of cabbage
  • 1 pound cipollini onions (any color)
  • 2 bulbs garlic
  • 1 pound carrots
  • 2 red or yellow/orange bell peppers (optional)

  • 1 bunch leeks
  • 1 bunch dill and/or rosemary; or 1/2 bunch basil
  • lots of water
  • 2 bulbs garlic
  • About 2 Tbl sea salt or Himalayan salt
  • About 3 Tbl coconut oil

1.   Put the coconut oil in a large (12 quart) soup pot. Dice the garlic bulbs, onions, bell peppers (optional), carrots (do not peel the carrots - if you want, rub lightly with steel wool), and leeks (wash really well, use white part AND green part), and put in the pot. Turn on the heat, put on the lid, and sautee until the onions are soft.

2.   In the meantime, wash and chop (do not peel) the potatoes and put them in a bowl of water with the salt. When the onions in the pot are soft, add the potatoes and water to the pot, and add additional water until it is 2 inches from the top of the pot. Put the lid back on, and bring to a simmer.

3.    In the meantime, finely chop the cabbage, and the herbs. When the contents of the pot are simmering, add the cabbage and herbs, and add water if necessary so it is 1 inch from the top of the pot. Bring to a simmer.

4.   If you are going to can it, bring to a boil and then follow the instructions for your canner. Mine says to put 1/2 veggies and 1/2 juice in each of the the quart jars, and process for 1 hr 25 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure (I'm at higher elevation).

5.   If you are going to freeze the soup, keep at a simmer until the cabbage is tender. Then turn off the heat and use the blender to blend a little soup at a time, filling a little into each of the quart jars until they are all full. (Don't fill the jars one at a time, or you'll end up with some having more garlic, or some having more carrots, etc -- put out all 11 of your jars and fill each one a little at a time so the vegetables blend well.) Cool, put in fridge overnight, then freeze. Make sure you have plenty of headspace. I find that if I'm going to freeze them I need to use quart jars with the wide mouths and leave 1and 1/2 up to 2 inches of headspace. Make sure the jars are not damaged, or they will break when they freeze.

6.    ENJOY IT WHENEVER... When it's time to eat the canned soup (since it isn't pureed), I puree it first, then heat it up. The frozen soup is very thick -- and when you thaw it, it seems like a spongy mass of veggies. Just use a little whisk or a fork when heating it and it'll go back to its creamy consistency. The nice thing is that you get healthy potato soup with a great texture and no cream at all. Lower calorie, higher in vitamins and minerals and antioxidants, and big on flavor.

    Think your kitchen might not be suited for canning and preservation??? The below photographs are Ellen and Joe's Tiny Kitchen. We also think that Mark Bittman does a lot of cooking in his tiny kitchen!