A Nice Fall Soup

Hubby and I were thinking a nice hearty soup would be tasty at this time of year. I said we needed to use some of the cabbage left from the garden, but didn't know what to put with it. We started hauling things out of the freezer and the garden and this is what we came up with. The pork roast I used was left from a huge one we had cut up to barbecue and serve for my DIL's 40th birthday. (It was raw when we started the soup process.)

1 1/2 pounds pork roast, any kind, cubed
Salt and Pepper
1/2 tsp celery seed
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound Applegate Farms organic smoked pork sausage, cubed
6 big carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 head of cabbage, chopped
3 medium potatoes, cubed

Coat pork in salt, pepper and celery seed. Heat a big soup pot with olive oil, add pork and brown. Cook it until the liquid boils off and the meat really starts to brown and coats the bottom of the pan. (This is where you get all the good flavor, since I can't use most of the meat flavor enhancers.) Add 2 quarts of water and a bit more salt to taste. Bring to a boil, turn heat down to a simmer and cook for 3-4 hours, adding more water if necessary.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook til tender, adding more water if needed. I cooked mine early in the day and put it back on the stove to warm while the biscuits baked. I thickened it with a small amount of instant potatoes-just enough so that the soup wasn't really runny.

Enjoy!