Start with a bag of cole slaw and create a soup that's a good, nourishing, filling dinner. The soup is perfect to make if you work from home (or if you don't), and can be left to simmer on the stove while you handle zoom and other calls. Or write blogs. Or work on novels. Or have writers' block. It happens! The soup isn't a cure, but it's tasty. It's also inexpensive and uses ingredients that aren't hard to find. In addition to the cole slaw mix, you'll need some sausage. I use sun-dried tomato chicken sausage from Lidl, but you can use what you like. The only other ingredients you might not have on hand are paprika and caraway seeds. Neither are especially hard to find. Consider starting the soup after lunch and letting it bubble away on the stove so you can have a nice, warming dinner without much additional fuss. All you'll really need to round out the dinner is some bread, a salad, and some cookies. Cookies help considerably with writer's block and zoom meetings. Really.
Cole Slaw Soup -- Makes 2+ Quarts
2-3 teaspoons of canola oil
1/2 a large onion, chopped
14-16-ounce bag of cole slaw mix (with carrots)
1/2 teaspoon of salt, plus extra to taste
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
12-ounce package of sun-dried tomato chicken sausage
1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
5-6 cups of water
2-3 teaspoons of reduced sodium "Better Than Bullion"
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of milk mixed with 1/4 cup of cornstarch
In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion, cole slaw mix, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and caraway seeds and saute the onion/cole slaw mixture for 5-8 minutes until the veggies are wilting. Cut the sausage into rounds and add it to the pot, sauteing the sausages for a few minutes. Add the paprika. Stir in the water and "Better Than Bullion," and bring the mixture to a low boil. Stir the mixture well and turn the heat down so that the mixture simmers gently. Let the soup simmer until the veggies are quite tender. You can let the mixture simmer for a few hours, if you like. Turn the mixture to low and stir/whisk in the sour cream, then the milk/cornstarch mixture. The mixture will thicken slightly, but it will still be soup-like, rather than as thick as a stew. Don't let the mixture boil, just let it gently cook until thickened a little. Serve the soup hot. You can dollop a spoonful of additional sour cream on each serving if you like.