Easiest Tasty Winter Soup

I wish I could say that I enjoyed a bowl of soup this week. I wish I could tell you these leftovers are sitting in my fridge right now... but I can't. Why? It might be because I am masochistically inclined to pile up work into short periods of time, because graduate research involving animals takes up ungodly hours of the day, or because I really can't wait on more minute to finish this chapter of my thesis... it might be that all of those reasons add up to a really, really busy week (soon to be month) with hardly time to shower let alone cook.

And this is the perfect soup - that I so-happened to make almost two weeks ago - for what I am craving this week. It is healthy but filling, wintery but not full of cheese and cream. It is a satisfying, stick to your ribs kind of soup that doesn't take more than 20 minutes of active time to prepare.

Easiest Tasty Winter Soup

1lb dried Great Northern beans

2 small onions

1 head Napa cabbage

1 bay leaf

4 cups water

4 cups stock (vegetable, or free-range organic chicken)

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Put the beans in a large pot with an extra 1" of water to cover. Either: (1) soak overnight, or (2) bring to a boil, turn off heat and soak for one hour. Drain the soaking water and rinse beans thoroughly.

2. Slice the cabbage (1/4")and dice the onion (1/4-1/2"). Add the onion with the bay leaf, water and stock to the beans. Cover, bring to a rapid simmer and cook until the beans are tender (2-3 hours, depending on how old the beans are). Add the cabbage and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 15 minutes.