Russian Style Cabbage Rolls Made The Fast Way

Trust me.  This easy to make cabbage dinner tastes a WHOLE lot better than I could make it look in this photo.  This wonderful-I ate 3 servings-cabbage recipe comes out of a brand new cookbook called Recipes from the Root Cellar by Andrea Chesman. The book is loaded with 270 fresh ways to enjoy Winter vegetables.  I'm totally diggin' it.

Never having made any form of cabbage rolls, I turned to two cooking friends for tips.  They told me stories of their mothers sitting around the table with other family members rolling and rolling away.   Neither one of them actually rolled their own cabbage rolls recipes.    My busy-mom friends took the fast and easy route, so I did too.  Instead of blanching the head of cabbage to soften the leaves for making rolls, I just sliced it up like I was making a chunky slaw and moved on.

I had to plan when I would cook the rice ahead of time, but the rest of the dish can be prepared in less than 15 minutes.  It takes 1-hour to bake it off.  If you have an oven that allows you to set a timer to stop cooking, use it.  Then, you can go off swimming with the kids or take a nap while the oven does all the work.  That's what I did.   I can't tell you just how nice it was to come in from being at the pool and smell dinner waiting for us in the stove.  I need more recipes like this one in my life.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 medium head green cabbage, roughly cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 pound lean grass-fed ground beef
• 1 cup cooked white or brown rice
• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper

for the sauce

• 2 cups unseasoned tomato sauce or tomato puree
• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup mild apple cider vinegar (artisanal cider vinegar is recommended)
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoons ground ginger
• salt & fresh ground pepper

HEAT the oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl, combine the ground meat, cooked rice, onion, eggs, garlic, salt and pepper.  Mix it up using your hands to get it thoroughly blended.  Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the tomato sauce, onion, apple cider, brown sugar, and ginger.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add more cider vinegar as needed for a sweet-sour sauce (artisanal cider vinegar is less sharp-tasting than supermarket cider vinegar and works better in this sauce).

In a 9- by 13-inch baking dish, lay down a layer of half the cabbage.  Then, divide the meat mixture in half and lay down a layer of meat over the cabbage.  Again, use your hands; it's easier.  Pour half the tomato sauce all over the first layer.  Add another layer with the other half of the cabbage, again the meat.  Finish with pouring the remaining sauce all over the top.

Cover the casserole with foil, poke a few holes to allow steam to escape. BAKE 1-HOUR. Serve hot with mashed potatoes or warmed wheat rolls.

Cook's Notes: For the cider vinegar, I had Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar on hand and used it.

Russian style cabbage dinner before it goes in the oven.

Healthy Taco Pie Recipe

Taco pie recipes come in all shapes and flavors.  This one in particular was a big hit with my family and our neighbors.  Full of tasty ingredients already found in the refrigerator and pantry.  Common goodies brought together to make a very satisfying meal when your so hungry you hardly speak during dinner.  This recipe was inspired by a very handy cookbook, Make-Ahead Meals For Busy Moms by Jane Doiron.  (Great book full of family friendly meals.  Read my full book review I wrote a while back.)

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

serves 4 hungry adults and 3 growing kids

• 2 pounds extra lean ground beef
• 1 cup or 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 6 whole garlic cloves

• 3 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (15-ounce) can or 2 cups pinto beans, partially drained
• 1 cup fresh corn off the cob, or canned or frozen
• 1 (4-ounce) can mild green chilies
• salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Cornbread topping

You can either use two (6.5-ounce) ready mix packages of cornbread and follow the directions, or make it from scratch as I did.

• 1 1/2 cups fresh cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk

Condiments and toppings (optional)

• sour cream
• favorite salsa
• Tabasco sauce
• jalapenos

Over medium high heat in a large skillet, start by browning the beef with the onions, bell pepper and garlic until no pink remains in the color of the meat.

Stir in the chili powder, oregano, cumin, garlic powder and cook for one minute.

Add in water, pinto bean with a little liquid, corn and green chilies.  Season with salt and fresh pepper to taste. Cook until heated through. Transfer meat and vegetables to a 13-inch by 9-inch casserole dish greased on its sides.

HEAT OVEN TO 400ºF.

In a medium bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients of the  cornbread topping.  Make a well and pour in all the wet ingredients.  Stir until all the dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour the cornbread batter over the middle of the meat filling in the dish and spread evenly.  The batter will spread to the edge of the dish during baking.  Trust me.

BAKE 20 to 30-minutes, depending on the heat of your oven.  Bake until cornbread is light golden on top and a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Cook's Notes:  If you find the cornbread in this dinner to be a little dry, add your favorite salsa over the top and/or sour cream.  I purposely left out the 1/4 cup shortening called for in the original cornbread recipe.  I didn't miss it and it didn't hurt the cornbread.

Chicken Chow Mein Made By A Kid

This recipe is TOTALLY EASY, TOTALLY SIMPLE and so GOOD, you'll eat two bowls of it.  I guarantee!

A few weeks back, I picked up two well written & illustrated cookbooks for my kiddos, so they could learn to cook on their own.  We agreed that for two nights out of the week they will prepare a dessert and a dinner, but not on the same nights.  They chose which day they wanted to make supper, then another to make dessert.  For the sake of my sanity, I asked them not choose the same days to do the opposite dish.  They're not ready to work without my supervision and I'm not patient enough to teach two kids, two different recipes at the same time.  My eye twitches just thinking about it.

Last night, Max cooked up Chicken Chow Mein and it was surprisingly delicious.  I had it again for lunch and it was even BETTER!  I told my husband not to skip his lunch or I would eat it for him.  He promptly took his share of the leftovers. This recipe is definitely one that will go into the monthly rotation of family favorites for us.  AND! I won't be the one who cooks it, YIPPEE!!

Now before I get started with the recipe, you need to know that my grocer didn't have authentic Asian egg noodles that are traditional in chow mein recipes, but they did have Thai Rice Noodles.  I've read other recipes that have substituted pasta noodles with egg noodles, but THAT IS NOT THE SAME.  Different ingredients, different texture, and I just won't do it.  I went with the Thai rice noodles and was completely happy.  Ok, let's cook!

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 8 ounces of dried egg noodles or Thai rice noodles
• 1 teaspoon oil

Cook the noodles according to the directions on their package.  Drain and keep warm until ready to toss into stir-fry mix.

For the stir-fry

• 1 package (12 ounce) frozen stir-fry vegetables (broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts), slightly thawed
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled & grated
• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 chicken breasts, cut into strips

• 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• pinch of salt and pepper to taste

After you have all the vegetables chopped, the meat cut up into strips, and you've just dropped the noodles in the hot water.

Max dropping the rice noodles in the pot.

.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons oil and chicken.  Stir-fry it for a few minutes until golden, then move the chicken onto a plate.

Put the garlic, ginger, and thawed vegetables EXCEPT green onions, in the frying pan.  Stir-fry them for 4 to 5 minutes, turning them all the time.  Add the chicken, green onions, and drained noodles.  Mix everything together.

Blend the soy sauce and lemon juice together, then pour over chow mein mixture.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for 2 more minutes to heat through.   Get out the chopsticks, it's DINNER TIME!!!

He was really jazzed about cooking dinner. He talked me through his steps like he was on TV.

TASTY EXTRAS

The original recipe says we can use steak or pork fillet instead of chicken.  And for a vegetarian chow mein, replace the meat with 2 zucchini and half a head of broccoli.  The frozen bag of vegetables I suggested really didn't have enough broccoli for our liking, so the extra half of head would make it even better next time.

Y'all let me know how this recipe works for your family.  HAVE FUN!

Megan’s Sausage and Beans Recipe

This family favorite recipe comes to us from Megan W.  Megan is a loyal reader and member of the Simple Daily Recipes' family.

Megan wrote: Mom used to make this and now I do it when I'm wanting something easy, inexpensive,  filling, and delicious, especially on cold nights.

Ingredients

• 1  15-ounce can whole cooked unseasoned tomatoes
• 1 15-ounce can your choice of red beans/kidney beans
• 1 pound of your choice of ground seasoned sausage (traditional seasoning usually works best, spicy, mild or medium...I'm talking Jimmy Dean or the like, here.)
• 1 cup uncooked rice of your choice
• 1 cup water

(This recipe is easily altered to use less meat, or more or less of any ingredient to taste. Sizes given produce about 4 reasonably sized bowls).

1. Brown sausage in a medium-sized deep pan on medium heat.  Break apart into small chunks. Drain off fat, if desired. I don't.
2. Add tomatoes, crushing by hand into chunks, including all juice from the can
3. Add beans with their liquid.
5. Add water until mixture is sloppy.
6. Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about half an hour.

In the meantime, cook rice as you would normally do and set aside. I try to plan it so the rice is still good and warm when my sauce is done.

Serve sausage and beans over warm rice. Add salt/pepper to taste, although the sausage does 99.9% of the seasoning by itself.

P.S. Leftover sauce only gets better after storage in the fridge... make a big batch!

That's it.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you, Megan, for sharing your recipe with us here on Simple Daily Recipes.

Any member of  the SDR family of readers is welcomed to share their family favorite recipes here on SDR.  Send your recipes through the CONTACT FORM, and I will get them up as soon as possible. If you can, include a photo of the finished dish so we know what's it's suppose to look like.

Meaty Macaroni and Cheese

This is one of those quick dinner recipes you can pull together if you have pre-cooked ground beef on hand.  It doesn't require too many ingredients to make it tastes great and keep you feeling full.  The fact that it involves a box of extra cheesy macaroni and cheese makes it a sure fire hit with the kiddos.

Now, I'm gonna write this recipe out as if I didn't have pre-cooked ground meat on hand.  I've made this dish with grass-fed, pasture raised ground beef and with pasture raised ground pork.  Either meat works well and has very little fat, which is good.

When I think about, if I could replicate a non-processed macaroni and cheese to taste like the box stuff my kids love so much, I could really have an organic meal on my hands.  However, I haven't made a fresh macaroni and cheese recipe, yet, that my kids will award the Kid Seal of Approval.  Oh sure, I've made some incredible tasting recipes loved by adults but the kids are...well, their kids.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

to feed a family of 4

• 1/2 pound fresh, lean ground beef or pork
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 6 to 8 whole garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed Sage

• 1 regular box Kraft Thick & Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
• 1 cup fresh, whole milk, warmed

• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 (14 ounce) can black eye peas OR black beans, drained

• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Start by heating a large skillet over medium to medium high and cooking the meat, onion, garlic cloves, oregano and sage together until meat is browned and there's no sign of pink. Cooking and stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, start a medium saucepan of water to boil the macaroni.  When the water comes to a boil, add the dried macaroni.  Stir pasta, reduce heat to medium and cook for 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender to the bite.  Drain off water.  Add powdered cheese and warmed milk to pasta .  Stir until smooth and creamy.  It may look a little soupy but don't worry.  The milk makes it easier to reheat as a leftover.

Once the meat is fully cooked, add the drained tomatoes, and black eye peas.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Continue to cook until the tomatoes and peas are heated through.

Now as for serving, you could lay a bed of cheesy macaroni in the bowl first and top it with the meaty mixture, as shown in the photo above.  Or you can toss the pasta together with the meaty mixture and serve it up like a goulash.  Either way, it tastes great.

This is a very good make-ahead-meal recipe for work lunches. Let me know how you like the whole garlic cloves in this dish.  I can't get enough of them and I tend to pick them out all for myself.  Hee-he-he-he. ;D

Vegetable Stew with a little Chicken

This vegetable stew recipe can easily be made without chicken and not lose any of it's heartiness.  To be quite honest, I let my husband and kids have the big chicken bites, then I fill my bowl with the big chunks of tomato, carrots, corn, and soft onion. Mmm, it's definitely one of my favorite comfort stew recipes.

I've never measured out how many servings we get from this recipe.  However, there's always enough for the four of us for dinner and another meal, plus a little extra, to put up in the freezer for a couple of lunches.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 3 tablespoon oil, butter or bacon drippings (you pick)

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 6 small to medium carrots, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 4 small to medium russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch chunks

• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf

• 1 (26 ounce) can whole tomatoes
• 2 cups frozen yellow corn, thawed
• 1 (32 ounce) container chicken broth
• 1 to 2 cups hot water

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked shredded chicken meat (optional)

Wash and chop all the vegetables.

In a large dutch oven or stew pot over medium heat, heat oil and cook onion, carrots and celery until soften.  Stir in all the dried herbs.  Add in whole tomatoes with their juice and break up the tomatoes into smaller chunks using a wooden spoon or potato masher.

Add in corn, potatoes and chicken broth.  Add enough hot water to cover all the vegetables with 1/2-inch liquid.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer.  Cover with lid and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are fork tender.  15 minutes from the end of the cooking time, remove the bay leaf and stir in the cooked, shredded chicken meat.

Serve with fresh baked bread or crackers.  Freezes well for  make-ahead meals.

Garbanzo Beans and Coconut Soup

After talking with my friends here on Simple Daily Recipes about their use of coconut milk in recipes, I wanted to share out this garbanzo beans and coconut soup recipe.  I'll be up front with you.  I haven't tried it, yet, but I do have all the fixins' to make it.  I thought while I was reading up on fresh soup recipes, I would go ahead and write them up.  Don't worry, as soon as I make this soup, I'll photograph it and update this recipe post.  Until then, here you go.

HERE'S ALL IT CALL FOR

Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon neutral tasting oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 (15 ounce) or 2 cups cooked garbanzo beans, drained
• 5 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 stalk of lemon grass, outer layer removed, and white upper part, finely chopped
• 7 ounces coconut milk
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• parsley or basil for garnish

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, cook onion and celery in oil over medium heat for five minutes.

Add garbanzo beans, stock, and bottom part of lemon grass stalk and simmer for 15 minutes.

In a food processor or with a hand blender, purée soup mixture.  Return to saucepan.

Add curry powder and upper part of the lemon grass and simmer 10 minutes or more.

Add coconut milk and heat.  Do not let it boil.  Garnish with parsley or basil.

For those that like to keep count....
Per Serving:

Protein............... 12 grams
Fat...................... 22 grams
Carbohydrates... 37 grams
Calories.............. 258
Dietary Fiber.......7 grams

Creamy Spinach and Turkey Fettuccine

Some of the best dinners are born from empty refrigerators, don't you agree?

This simple Creamy Spinach and Turkey Fettuccine recipe takes only as long as the wait for the pasta to become tender to the bite.  The creamy sauce is loaded with tender spinach and zesty chunks of sun-dried tomato turkey.  With only a handful of ingredients and two pots, I had a fresh, satisfying dinner on the table in under half an hour.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES
To feed 4 to 6 folks

• 1 pound dry fettuccine pasta

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup yellow onion, diced small
• 6 to 8 whole garlic cloves

• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 1 pound Plantation Sun-dried Tomato Turkey breast, cut into bite-size chunks (found at the deli counter)
• 3/4 to 1 cup blanched spinach, chopped

• 1 cup fresh heavy cream
• 1/2 cup water

• ground pepper flakes for topping (optional)

After you've cut and prepped all the ingredients, start a large pot of boiling water to cook the pasta.  After the water comes to a boil, add pasta and stir gently.  Cook uncovered over medium heat for 12 minutes, or until tender to the bite.

While you're waiting for the fettuccine to cook.  In a 10- to 12-inch skillet over medium heat, cook onion and garlic cloves in butter until they are tender, 5 minutes.  Do NOT let the onions and garlic turn brown, lower the heat if you need to; you just want them tender.

Add in the flour, pepper and salt.  Stir constantly, removing any dry flour lumps and cook flour for up to 3 to 4 minutes.  The longer you cook the flour the better the sauce will taste.  Stir in the turkey chunks and chopped spinach, making sure to coat them with the cooked flour.

Reduce the heat to a medium-low and slowly add in the heavy cream.  It will become a thick sauce very quickly so start by adding half of the water to thin the sauce.  If you think it is still too thick (we don't want gravy, only a creamy sauce) add the remaining water.  When the sauce is heated through, remove from heat.  Do NOT bring the sauce to a boil.  Heavy cream will curdle, that's not pretty or creamy.

The pasta should be tender by now; drain off the water, then transfer pasta to a large serving bowl.  Pour the creamy spinach and turkey sauce over the pasta and toss until everything is well coated.  The sauce will thicken up even more, and adhere to the pasta if you allow it a couple of minutes to set before serving.  Allow each person to season their dish with ground pepper flakes if they wish.

OH! and  Swirly Peanut Butter Brownies taste GREAT after this meal.

Campers Casserole

Campers Casserole is simple to bring together and I could totally imagine it being cooked in a dutch-oven over a campfire.  Since I was home, I used my trusty casserole dish.  You may want to salt & pepper this dish to your taste.  My husband and son enjoyed this dinner with ketchup on top.  It was very filling and I enjoyed trying this new recipe.  But I'll be honest, it needed an extra spice, maybe oregano or cumin or maybe a green bell pepper?

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 pound extra lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
• 1 can (14oz) or 2 cups kidney beans or pinto, drained and rinsed
• 1 bigger can (28oz) diced tomatoes, pureed or use tomato sauce
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

HEAT OVEN 350ºF.

In a large pan or dutch oven over medium heat, brown the beef, onion and garlic.  Season with chili powder.  Stir in cooked rice then transfer mix to a greased 13-inch by 9-inch casserole dish.

Add one layer of beans then pour on pureed tomatoes. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes.  Uncover, sprinkle with cheese.  Return to oven and bake, uncovered for 10 minutes or so, until cheese is melted.  Serves 4 to 6 campers.

Simple Sausage & Bean Stew

A NEW WINNER WITH THE FAMILY, Sausage and Bean Stew got raving reviews!

Family demands it to be in our monthly rotations of family favorites. Use your favorite sausage for this stew, spicy or mild, either will work. Since I have young ones, I went with a mild pork sausage.

HERE'S ALL THERE'S TO IT

• 1 pound sausage, cut in 1/2-inch slices
• 1 tablespoon oil or bacon dripping
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (14 oz) or 2 cups kidney or pinto beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 can (14 oz) or 2 cups garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
• 1/2 cup salsa, medium or mild, you decide
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

In large pot or dutch-oven, brown sausage in oil over medium heat. You may have to cook half the amount at one time.  The less crowded the faster the meat will brown.  Remove the meat from the pan and set aside on a plate. Drain fat, leaving a tablespoons worth to soften the onion and garlic over medium low heat for 7 to 10 minutes.

Return sausage to pan.  Add rest of ingredients, cover and simmer for 40 to 50 minutes, stir occasionally.  Cornbread makes a great side to this stew.

Serves 4 to 6 folks.

Per serving:  Protein - 27 g, Fat - 26 g, Carbohydrates - 44 g, Calories - 511, Dietary Fiber - 12 g.

Tomato, Chickpea and Spinach Soup

This simple soup recipe made for a nice addition to our weekly dinner menu.  The kiddos didn't like it, but four grown ups chowed down until they could eat no more.  So colorful, so fresh tasting, light on the calories, and loaded with filling ingredients.  I served this soup with a side of hot baked French bread and leftover Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can (15 oz.) garbanzo beans, drained or rinsed or 2 cups homecooked
• 1 teaspoon dried sage

• 1/2 cup uncooked macaroni
• 1 cup blanched spinach, or frozen spinach thawed, then chopped
• salt & pepper to taste

In a large saucepan or dutch-oven, cook onion and garlic over medium low heat until onion is transparent.  Add tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes or so, until tomatoes start to break down.  Add broth, beans, sage.

Increase heat to medium high to bring broth to a boil.  Add macaroni then REDUCE HEAT to simmer 7 minutes.  Add spinach and simmer 5 more minutes, until spinach is heated through and pasta is cooked.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serves 5 to 6 folks.

COOK'S NOTES

• I pressure cooked a bag of garbanzo beans in 30 minutes, then used the extra bean broth for the vegetable broth. I was still left them 2 1/2 cups of garbanzo beans with broth for reserve.  I'm ready for another chickpea recipe.
• I keep frozen blanched spinach in 2 cup portions in the freezer for recipes like this.  So all I had to do was thaw the spinach and chop it up.
• Even though this was a light tasting soup, I wanted it to have a thicker tomato consistency. It's probably just a mood I'm in right now.  I'm thinking of pureeing the tomatoes, next time, before adding them to the pot.

Simple Lentil Chili Recipe

Of all the simple lentil recipes I have tried, this one is fast becoming my favorite way to eat lentils.  My newest friend from Virginia, Cheryl B., brought this soup over last week for our lunch together.  The kids chowed down!

Cheryl was sweet enough to leave extra lentil chili behind for me to photograph and enjoy.  And I certainly did just that. ;D

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 1 1/2 teaspoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon. minced garlic
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen carrots (I use about 4 cups of fresh sliced carrots)
• 1 (16 oz.) pkg. lentils (any color is fine but red looks the nicest)
• 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste (can substitute stewed, diced, or chopped tomatoes)
• 6 cups water
• 1 3/4 cups beef stock
• 1-2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• grated cheese to top (mexican, cheddar, or just be creative)

Cook oil, garlic, onion, and carrots 10 minutes on med. high, until looking a bit brown.
Add the rest of the ingredients, cover, and bring to a boil.  Then lower heat to simmer for 35-40 minutes, un-covered.  Add more seasonings to taste.  Serve with grated cheese on top.

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