This week's topic for #cookingonabudget for #ecotrain is New year's leftovers. Thank you to 
We are not really into having celebratory gatherings but my partner Marc's elderly parents are lonely and want to see us whenever possible. For them we get together. On New years day I made something that they will eat. Cabbage rolls are familiar to them. It's something that I can veganize without them turning up their noses. They are hard core meat, potatoes, cheese and bread eaters. They rarely eat much else. Marc's mother has made vegan cabbage rolls for us in the past and his parents like them. She usually uses a vegan mince which I am not fond of. It's a brand with a flavor that doesn't cut it for me. She also doesn't like much spice or seasoning.
I made them this year and invited them to our place. It can be a long process but for me the trick is to put the cabbage in the freezer ahead of time. When you use it the leaves are much more tender and easy to work with.
I had the cabbage in the freezer for a week. When I took it out I boiled the whole thing and cooked rice. In the meantime I ground up some vegan sausages that I really like and mixed them with the rice, browned onion and garlic. Rolling the mixture in the leaves is the most time consuming but relaxing somehow. After I put them in a large pot and added a little tomato sauce and a little veggie broth, reserving some sauce to put on when serving. I would have baked them but my oven is broken. I had to refrain from too much seasoning or they would not like it. There were many rolls in the end. Too many. I froze quite a few.
Today I took them out and wanted to turn them into soup, which would have additional items added to make it more exciting. Don't get me wrong the cabbage rolls were delicious but I prefer to have more kick to my food. Soup was a fast way to do this.
I started by chopping the frozen cabbage rolls. They were going to fall apart anyway in the soup.
I always have soup broth in the fridge so I added three cups or so to the pot with the chopped up rolls and turned up the heat.
Meanwhile I browned some onion and garlic.
After adding the onion and garlic I added some brown lentils that I had cooked. It was around 1 cup of dry lentils.
I added the leftover tomato sauce and more soup broth because it seemed too thick. Along with that I added a teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon oregano, a pinch of thyme, a few drops of liquid smoke and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup to tone down the acidity.
I thought I would make use of the last frozen brussel sprouts that I had in the freezer, which I was not crazy about. Fresh ones are much better. I don't mind most frozen veggies but not these. It was a perfect way to use them. I chopped them and threw them in the soup.
There were some random cooked potatoes leftover so I chopped them and threw them in as well. At the end I threw in some additional tomatoes which I crushed up and some frozen peas and a little leftover sauerkraut which was served with the cabbage rolls. Marc's parents are German and love sauerkraut. I like it too actually.
And finally what may seem unthinkable. A dash of hot pepper sauce to suit our personal taste. We like it hot. Don't worry it wasn't that much. Just enough to forget that it's minus 20 celcius outside.
I had some green onions that I got from the markdown bin so I garnished the soup with those to add an extra something.
Along with a toasted multigrain bagel with vegan butter, it was a perfect lunch.
This produced more leftovers which is perfect for lazy days.
Thanks for stopping by.
