Stuffed Cabbage Stoup Soup ALA Rachael Ray

STOUP? I know another corny saying of Rachael Ray. "Thinner than a stew, but thicker than a soup" Utterly clever, actually. Honestly, though, how could you not like her, or admire her, just a little? I do. Many of her meals have entered my home, many of her meals are now favorites, many of her meals are healthy and have lots of veggies, many of her meals are just plain damn tasty. This one, is definitely a "keeper" in my home. If you are a fan of stuffed cabbage, this one is calling your name sweetheart. We LOVE it!

I absolutely , positively, 100 million thousand PERCENT warn you , however, do not, I REPEAT, do NOT, serve this on a night when you are or might potentially be, romantically inclined, oh face it, just plain horny. I can not stress this enough, fellow women. DO NOT make this on a night you want some. Really, honestly, truly. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about here.

Cabbage, along with its many healthy benefits, is an extremely , well, gassy, vegetable. In plain layman's terms. You will have your husband, partner, family , "tooting"-- for a lack of a politically correct word, like crazy. Crazy.

Can I just tell you this!! My FFH(firefighter husband, fighter of flames, rescuer of people, EMT when need calls) is guilty of this crime. GUILTY!! He "toots" all night long. Not conducive to romance. NOT conducive to cuddling. NOT conducive to freaking plain breathing for crissakes.

Does anyone else's husband make comments after each "toot?" Or am I just the lucky one?? For example, I give you this scenario: Husband and beautiful, sexy,drop dead gorgeous, pretty, loving wife(umm, that would be me), sitting on couch, watching Grey's Antatomy.. oh God Patrick Dempsey.. when out of the blue FFH toots.

Then he says,"Oh, Jeez."

Husband proceeds to toot again followed by,"Oh My God !"

Yet again he toots, "Wow", he says.

WTF!!! I say.. What in the world happened to excuse me!!! What in the world happened to going into the other room to do your tooting. What !What happened people!!

The Best, I mean, The Best , and the most unforgivable is the LOUD obnoxious Toot, followed by, are you ready, are you ready for this... and remember before I tell you, he is a 20+ year firefighter who has rescued many, he who runs into burning buildings, wears sexy hot fireman boots, wears a hard hot helmet, ... the /BEST is the toot FFH makes, followed by the word "Ribbit" HUH!!! Ribbit, what a frog farts, honey?? I Just don't get it. Please tell me I am not alone. Please tell me I didn't marry the only man who toots and comments afterward. PLEASE! I'm on my knees here.. don't start getting excited FFH if you read that.

Anyway, now that you're all in the mood to eat, here is the really, really pleasurable, stuffed cabbage stoup...

Stuffed Cabbage Stoup

Original recipe found here.

Heat your soup pot over medium-high heat, add some olive oil. Then add your mealoaf mixture(1 1/2 pound combo of beef, veal, and pork )

I get this from my butcher, Jack, Hi Jack, Got some good meat for me today, Jack, Love ya Jack. Jack and I are BFFLs. He gives me his good, fresh meat whenever I want it. Don't be jealous, he has plenty to go around. Plenty. Yeppers.

Brown this gorgeous meat mix for couple of minutes, and season with allspice, coriander, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper.

Have I ever told you that I love Smoked Paprika? Look here for a beauty of a recipe. Then you are going to add your bay leaf, onions, garlic, and carrots. Yes, that's what you're going to do. Cook these veggies 2 to 3 minutes to soften them a bit,

and add your cabbage (your tooter causer and romance killer) to the pot

and wilt it down a bitI don't like the word wilt, that word isn't conducive to romance either, not in my book, anyway.

Add your tomatoes and tomato sauce

Then add your chicken stock,EEEWWWW!!! How queer, you are saying.. She uses Rachael Ray chicken stock when cooking a Rachael Ray dish. Honestly, people, it just happened to be on sale. I am not that odd, really. When I cook her food, I do not use her terms. I don't say ,"Pass me The EVOO.", I don't refer to everyone in the general population as "Kids." Honest, I don't. I don't pretend I am cooking to an audience either. I don't. Really, I don't. I don't even try to carry 20+ items in my arms at once. I don't even have a pasted on smile on my face the entire time I'm cooking the meal, honest. I don't! And every meal I make is NOT from my Mom. Truly.

OK, get on with it. Cover your pot, raise the heat to high, and bring it to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes (SHHHHH, I simmered mine 20+ minutes, don't tell Rach though.) Yummy in my tummy, just look how it's coming along...

Stir in your parsley and dill

Place some soup (stoup) in each bowl.

Oh my, look at all the goodies in this soup.

Once your rice is done (see recipe below), add an ice cream scoop full to each bowl.

And so enjoy. Have your significant other take some Bean-O.

This stoup-- soup-- is better the second and third day. (Please remember to space it out while eating otherwise you'll never get any nooky.) Freezes well too!!

One final thing I want to share with you all, like you care.. My Dog Clooney, not named after George, loves the snow..

Look at all the balls of snow on him.. Poor Clooney!

How in the world do you get these snowballs off him.. We used a hair dryer.. do you know a better way?? I'd love to know.

Forgot to tell you one more thing, God will I ever let you go?? While your FFH or your husband or whoever is busy doing his "tooting", your children will be singing the , "Beans Beans Good for your heart", song.. So... between the tooting and the singing.. You'll have a gosh-darned symphony going on in your house. But the soup is very good.

BTW .. would someone tell my FFH that it is NOT OK to smell his own "toots", his head may get stuck like this poor fellow..

Laugh, Laugh, life is too short not too, right Cheryl??