Sweet & Sour Beef-Cabbage Soup

1 T canola oil
1 lb lean ground beef
1 1/2 t caraway seeds
1 t thyme
2 1/2 cup frozen green bell peppers/onions
1 medium Golden Delicious apple - unpeeled & diced
6 cup beef broth
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 T honey
1 T paprika
3 cup coarsely chopped Savoy cabbage
1-2 T cider vinegar
1/4 t salt
fresh ground black pepper


Heat oil over medium heat.  Add beef, caraway and thyme; cook until beef is mostly browned.  Add peppers, onions and apples and stir 2-3 minutes.  Stir in broth, tomatoes, honey, and paprika and bring to a gentle boil.  Cook 8-10 minutes.  Stir in cabbage and cook 3-4 minutes until just tender.  Season with vinegar and salt/pepper.


This is a recipe from Eating Well on a Budget.  This was less beefy than I'd like, although I did substitute 2 of the cups of broth with water because that's what I had, and I should have added some beef soup base to make up for it.  Also it was too astringent for me.  I added both tablespoons of vinegar without tasting a smaller amount.  I couldn't eat it as was, so I strained out all the chunky stuff and saved the broth.  I used the broth as the liquid to make rice and mixed it in Texas Hash style (I should post that recipe sometime).  It turned out pretty edible, as the starch soaked up some of the acidic tang.  There's a good chance I'll try this again, following more closely. 

This is the sort of thing I do often, especially since I like to try new recipes.  Sometimes, it's not  something you really like, but you can eat the one batch and never make it again.  Sometimes you can salvage part of it.  I hate throwing out food since there are lots of people who would love to have it, so I only do so if I truly cannot find a way to make the dish edible to me.

Apple Pear Cucumber Salad

2 T whole grain mustard
2 t dill
4 T cider vinegar
pinch brown sugar
4 T olive oil
2 crisp apples, unpeeled
1 firm pear, unpeeled
1 English cucumber
1 small or 1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped

Combine mustard, dill, vinegar, sugar, and olive oil and whisk until emulsified.  Slice apples, pears and cucumber into thin slices.  Combine all and toss well.


This is probably best after about 30 minutes of making and storing in the fridge, but it did hold over well for about 3 days.  Much longer and it might have become soggy.  For the apples and pear I quartered them and cut off the core, then cut the slices crosswise.