Portuguese Soup

Christmas time and holiday's get so hectic.  This year I said I'm making a double batch of soup for Christmas Day and we can eat it for days.  Or if you have family around for the Holiday's and you guys have had your big meal and need something else to feed them this one works great.  I chopped up the veges the day before and then stuck them all together the day of and just let it cook.  It's a great way to feed a lot of people fill them up and enjoy your guests.  I had a request to share this recipe.

It's called Portuguese Soup.  Now I'm not sure if this is a traditional Portuguese food but it is a tradition for our family.  I remember the first Christmas my mom made this recipe my sisters and I looked at it and said "no way" we weren't going to eat it.  We tried it and loved it and ever since then it was a Christmas soup tradition.  We ate it every year.  The colors are also very festive.

This picture was taken before it was quite finished cooking the cabbage gets so nice and soft and the flavors just come together so nicely.  I didn't add the onion because I have some family members who can't eat them so I added some onion powder and it still turned out great.

Portuguese Soup

6 cups                           Chicken Broth
1 lb                               Smoked Sausage (sliced)
1 lb                               Potatoes (about 3-4 average sized potatoes, chopped)
1 15.5 oz can                Kidney Beans Drained
1 14.5 oz can                Diced tomato's not drained
1/2 of a head                Green cabbage chopped
1 medium                     Onion chopped
1 large                          Carrot chopped
1/2                                Green pepper chopped
3                                   Cloves minced garlic

Put all the ingredients together in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, while stirring reduce heat, and then simmer for 2 hours.

This is a delicious meal to share with friends and family for the holidays or for the after holidays when you've done a lot of cooking and just don't want to do a lot more.