Round Two Meal: Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

Tags

30 minute meals, budget, corned beef, easy cooking, leftovers, round two meals, soup, weeknight meal

I’m that mom that goes crazy over wasted food, especially leftovers. I could blame that obsession of mine on starving children in third world countries, but honestly it’s more because I work pretty hard to budget with groceries each week. I hit sales, clip coupons, and comparison shop with much attention to detail, but also still make great home cooked meals for my family as much as possible.

The challenge with this though is that two of my three picky eaters won’t eat reheated leftovers just as they are. Oh no, no, of course not. Sure, I bring leftovers to work for lunch all week, but I still have to make dinner happen every night with the food I budget for. So, I often create “Round Two Meals”, using leftover ingredients to make a completely new meal. This by far isn’t a new concept and well known to educated chefs, but it’s one I’ve adopted and love to use often!

As we just had St. Patrick’s Day, I had leftover corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes in the fridge. Sandwiches on good quality rye are delicious, but my favorite thing to do with these is make soup! Like most of my recipes, this is very easy and takes very little time. (It also freezes well if you make a big batch.)

Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced small
1 cup left over cooked chopped carrots
3 celery stalks, chopped small
1 can petite diced tomatoes, undrained (14 oz)
2 cups left over chopped cooked cabbage
2 cups left over cooked chopped potatoes
2 cups left over cooked chopped corned beef
1 bay leaf
5 cups beef broth
1 bottle Smithwick’s Irish Ale (12 oz)
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium-low heat and sautee the onion and celery until tender and fragrant. Add beef broth and ale, and bring to a simmer. Add in carrots, tomatoes in their juice, cabbage, potatoes, corned beef and stir.

Cover and simmer on medium-low heat approximately 15-20 minutes. Uncover, remove from heat, and remove bay leaf. Stir in apple cider vinegar before serving.

(Chef’s Notes: If you are salt-sensitive or follow a salt restricted diet, use low sodium beef broth. Also, you can use the water the corned beef was originally cooked in if you reserve and store it right after cooking. If you love a sour taste to your soups like I do, add 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar instead of just one!)

Yum!

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