Diet Friendly Chunky Cabbage Soup

So either way you look at it, dieting sucks. However one great trick I have learned is that brothy soups help you keep diets in check because the liquid fills you up. Lucky for me, I also like the taste of cooked vegetables(but put a carrot stick in front of me and I'll take your finger instead). So here is a recipe I cook often in the winter. Also in this recipe, I had a leftover turkey carcase from a storebought roasted turkey breast that I picked the meat off of, and made my own stock. You do not have to do that, canned or boxed chicken broth will work just perfect.

Ingredients:

- 2 fat carrots
- 3 large celery stalks
- 1/2 giant sweet yellow onion
- 3-4 tbs Olive oil
- 5-8 cloves of garlic lightly chopped
- 1 head of napa cabbage
- 1tbs dried basil leaves
- 2tbs chicken boullion
- Pepper to taste

Broth- enough chicken stock to fill up half of a large soup pot or fill up your pot half way and boil your poultry bones on high while you chop all of your vegetables but the cabbage.

1. Put the olive oil in your pan and, on medium high heat, sweat down your Mirepoix(thats what you call your base mix of celery, onions, and carrots) and garlic until the onions are starting to become see through. Season with pepper but no salt, there is enough in your stock and in the boullion you will add later.

2. While those are sweating down, feel free to chop up your cabbage. I like it chunky, so I quarter the head of cabbage and then largely slice huge chunks.

3. When your onions are see through, add your broth, basil, and boullion. Bring all of this to a boil and then cover and turn the heat down to low. Let this simmer for a half hour.

4. After letting the carrots and celery get soft and flavor the broth, bring the heat back up to medium and stir in your cabbage. Let that cook for 10 minutes.

5. Serve while the stalks of the cabbage are still a little crunchy.

Creamy Turkey Kale Soup

Living at least 3 hours away from the nearest Olive Garden, I start to itch for some of its delicious menu items. Seeing as I cant make my bread sticks taste just like theirs, I settle for another favorite, the chicken and gnocchi creamy soup. My cravings building up, and my imagination becoming more vivid as craved, I did my best to figure out the ingredients. I think I did a pretty darn good job using my leftover turkey from the roast I picked up at the deli counter the other day.

Ingredients:
- 1 head of kale
- 1 pint of heavy whipping cream
- 8oz pack of gnocchi(little potato dumplings)
- 15oz can of cannellini beans
- 1 cup shredded turkey or chicken
- 3 14.5oz cans of chicken stock
- small hand full of garlic cloves
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- pinch of chili flakes
- 1 tbs dried basil leaves
- s&p

1. Begin by bringing the chicken stock to a simmer with the turkey or chicken meat in it for flavor. While that's on the stove, start tearing up your kale. You should only put the leaf part in your soup, none of the bitter stem.

2. Add your kale and all of your seasonings and garlic. Cover and let cook down for 25 minutes.

3. Drop gently your gnocchi into the stock and begin stirring in the heavy whipping cream. Keep your heat on medium low to low to keep from burning the cream.

4. Stir in your can of beans(drained) and your Parmesan cheese. This will begin to thicken the broth a little bit.

5. Cover and wait about another 10 minutes. Basically when your gnocchi are floating, the soup is ready to eat.