Gin Gin Soup

Recipe #41: http://easy.betterrecipes.com/gin-gin-soup.html

WARNING: This recipe (see link above) is flawed as of time of writing this. It lists chickpeas in the ingredients, but fails to make any mention of them under "Method". As in when to add stuff to the pot. You may notice my comment on the web page asking about when to add the chickpeas. I only noticed they weren't accounted for as I was adding the broth so that's when I added the chickpeas to mine. I also rinsed and drained them prior to chucking them in the pot. No idea if that's correct or not.

My poor R index finger has another blister from chopping, chopping, chopping. My blister on my L ring finger from a cupcake pan burn is healed so maybe my destiny is for my hands to alternate blisters from various causes? Can't say I'm very impressed by the idea.

Aside from the endless chopping, this recipe seems fairly simple if you also disregard the lack of information in it (see warning at beginning). I chose it because it doesn't have peppers in it and because I wanted a chicken soup recipe for the impending-winter-potential-illness months ahead. If I get sick, I'm sure as anything not going to feel like cooking myself some chicken soup. Knock on wood that my preventative cooking pays off!

And may I suggest buying a cabbage on the smaller size for more reasons than just less to chop. I have a HUGE mound of cabbage on the counter. There's lots on the floor too but I'm too tired to go looking for it all. It blends too well with the lino here in the kitchen so my feet keep finding it before my eyes do. When I added it to the pot, it rose above the line of my liquid and threatened to overtake the entire stovetop. Be careful that yours doesn't fall under the stove burners like mine did because the smell is kind of gross. I had to really stir to find any other ingredients. I will not be using my soup as a "cabbage soup diet": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabbage_soup_diet

I used my new good-enough-for-government-work method of mincing garlic where I smash it flat with the side of the big, scary metal knife, then chop it into tiny pieces. I'm so pleased I figured this out. I really hate digging garlic mash out of the garlic press. When I added the garlic to the vegetable/chicken mixture, I even got a nice garlic facial out of the deal.

According to my calculations, the 2 quarts of chicken stock called for equals 8 cups. Don't pour part of yours on the counter and stove without noticing like I did while you add it to the pot. If you use as much bloody cabbage as I did, and your stock comes in 900mL tetra paks like mine does (currently on sale at Sobey's, fyi), you'll need a good 2 boxes and I used maybe 1/5-1/4 of a beef broth one I had already opened. Still, my cabbage is mostly overwhelming the pot so keep that in mind if you wonder where all your liquid went.

This soup is tasty if you don't mind cabbage in large quantities. I'm feeling rather eastern European as I eat. According to Wikipedia, cabbage is a good source of riboflavin, dietary fibre, vitamin C, and glutamine which is an amino acide with anti-inflammatory properties. Dig in!