Soup maybe only a Polish girl could enjoy

Cabbage Soup with Kielbasa
Weight Watchers Simply Delicious Flexpoint Cookbook Copyright 2002

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
6 ounces low-fat kielbasa, thinly sliced I actually used about 8 ounces
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 cups water I used 3 cups of chicken broth and 5 cups of water, just because I had the broth on hand
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 small head cabbage, shredded (8 cups)
1 large carrot, coarsely shredded I used pre-shredded cabbage and carrots (cole slaw mix)
1 (8-ounce) all-purpose potato, peeled and coarsely shredded I didn't read this closely enough and cubed instead of shredded
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Heat the oil in a very large saucepan, then add the onion. Sauté until translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add the kielbasa and garlic; sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the water, bay leaf, salt, thyme, marjoram and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered about 15 minutes.

Stir in the cabbage, potato, carrot and vinegar. Return to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer; partially covered, until all of the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Discard the bay leaf.

Makes 6 generous 1 cup servings (2 points per serving for those on WW)

I thought this would make a nice filling lunch soup. As you can see, I jarred it up to transport it to work (BTW, never try to carry homemade soup to work in anything less secure than a screw-top jar - Ask me how I know.). I think I got much more than the 6 generous 1 cup servings the recipe said I would get (do the math - how can you end up with only 6 cups???). My only complaint is that all the kielbasa flavor is in the broth now. The kielbasa itself ended up rather flavorless. But I think it will get me through the afternoon nicely. Would I make it again? Perhaps some variation of this recipe, maybe with a different smoked sausage or maybe even ham.

This cookbook was borrowed from the library. This may be the first time I borrowed a cookbook and actually made something from it before I returned it. If I ever saw this cookbook on a discount table, I'd buy a copy. This is probably not the only recipe I'll try from this book. The recipes are uncomplicated yet very tempting and good for you too. Can't beat that.