Sort Of Mennonite Borscht - Crock Pot

Borscht is traditionally made with beets. Unless you are using a Mennonite recipe.  Mennonites use tomato paste or sauce in their borscht.

This is my take on the soup.  It seems high in carbs, but the serving size is meal size. We had ours with some chicken breast fillets. It was extremely filling. The meat is on the sparse side, because we the next day was grocery shopping. You could add a pound of your favorite meat to the soup as well.

Ingredients:

Makes 4 meal size servings.

• 2 thick slices bacon

• 9 oz. rutabaga (about medium size), cut in small cubes.

• 1 tbsp butter.

• 1 tbsp vinegar

• 1 tbsp bacon fat

• 1.5 lbs cabbage (shredded)

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1/2 medium green pepper, chopped (I used red for some color)

• 4 cups water

• 6 oz tomato sauce
• 1 cup sour cream
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• 1. Cut the bacon into bite size pieces.
• 2. Cook over medium heat until crispy.
• 3. Drain off 1 Tbsp of fat.
• 4. Add everything to the crock pot, EXCEPT for the sour cream. Stir it well. If the water does not come to the top of the vegetables, add more.
• 5. Flavor, if you like, but it doesn't need much.
• 6. Cook on low for 8 - 10 hours.
• 7. 15 minutes before serving; mix in the sour cream.
• 8. Heat through, then serve.
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• This is really nice on a cool day.
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• Nutrition Facts

• Serving Size 1 Serving (I think about 2 cups)
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories 306
• Fat 21.15  g
• Carbohydrate 24.17 g
• Fiber 6.7 g
• Sugars 13.06 g  
• Protein 8.14 g  

Turnip Soup

I love to read old cookbooks. They can be fun and sometimes a bit scary (spam in jello?). But the really old ones can have some simple, but good food that can be altered to anyone's taste.

This turnip soup, I found in a Victorian era cookbook. In fact, I found it in a couple I read. It was a common soup of that time, apparently.

This is the basic soup, minus the potatoes. Other variations included meat and other vegetables. If I was to add meat to it, I would cook the meat in the broth, while cooking the turnips. Then add the turnips to the broth as directed.

I list beef broth in the ingredients, but I have made it with my homemade veggie broth and it has turned out just fine.


Turnip Soup

Serves 4

water
6 med turnips, peeled, cubed.
1 med onion, chopped.
2 cups beef broth
1 1/2 cup cream
salt
pepper

Boil the turnips and the onions until tender.
Drain, but do not discard the water.
Mash the turnips.
In another pot, add the turnips and the broth. If seems dry add a little of the reserved water. It should not be soupy.
Add the cream.
If not thin enough for you, add more of the reserved water.
Heat through and serve.


Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 221
Total Fat 11 g
Total Carbohydrate 24
Dietary Fiber 5 g
Protein 7 g