Some of my favorite meals are the result of my forgetfulness. As in, I accidentally on purpose forget to take meat out of the freezer until it's too late, and then, oh gosh, I'm sorry, it looks like I'll just have to do something creative with these veggies.
The only meat in the freezer today was pork chops and I just wasn't in the mood. Today was a soup day and I had half a head of cabbage in the fridge that was calling out to me. When I was a young, newly married hippie, (can't you just picture my long frizzy hair) I used to make a killer cabbage and potato soup that even my 'meat and three' husband liked. Actually he was more of a meat and one - one being canned green beans. So I thought I'd resurrect it and see what his reaction would be, now that he is open to the occasional vegetarian meal.
But then I found a package of smoked bratwurst that I'd forgotten about. Hmmm....I could make us both happy if I sliced some up and added it to the soup. This is what I did: I chopped up an onion and sauteed it in olive oil until it was soft. Then I added the cabbage which I had roughly shredded and let it saute for a few minutes while I cut three potatoes into chunks. I added them to the pot along with the sliced bratwurst and then poured in some chicken broth and just let it cook away until it started smelling like it wanted to be eaten. Not even remotely vegetarian but let's not get tied up in formalities.
While it simmered, I cut up two avocados which if left another day, would have become guacamole, added some slivered red onion, halved grape tomatoes and zucchini cut into matchsticks and tossed it all with olive oil and white balsamic vinegar.
Let's see, what else? Ah, I had some focaccia bread that would be too hard to eat by tomorrow, so I made some garlic toast, poured some Beaujolais Nouveau and sat down to a Wednesday night feast.
