It's time to bust out the real old world recipes.
Man, with the way things are going these days in terms of food prices and everything else, the fact is that the dinners we've so often taken for granted—ones full of ground beef or eggs or lots of tasty, yet not always so common, vegetables—may need to take a back seat for a while. For many folks, there's already a struggle to decide whether to pay the rent on time or get groceries for the week, and none of the suddenly higher prices on dairy, eggs, chicken, or beef is helping anyone (as well as the higher costs of vegetables and fruits, what with both tariffs galore and the fact that, well... all the farmers voted to deport nearly half their labor force.
(Quick question: if these goons were so gung-ho about deporting all the "illegals" they keep crying about and scapegoating for all their problems... why the fuck did they hire these poor folks to begin with?)
Anyway, all that aside, let me tell you something: if there is one group of people that has the whole Poor Man's Food on lock, it is in fact my ancestors, the Slovenians. Specifically my family, with the rural poverty factor added into it, had plenty of ways to eat enough to feel full and not die even though meat was rarely on the menu and they were out doing hours on hours of hard labor day in and day out. While we never would think we'd be back at times like those, it does seem that the food insecurity of such times is something that is coming in hot, and as a result, it seems my mom may be feeling a bit vindicated on her ominous warnings: there'll be a day you wish you had what slop I cooked tonight!
(She would say this whenever my dad and I would wrinkle our noses at whatever slapped together amalgamation of mushrooms, rice, carrots, and chicken she put on the table. It was good, though. It just also looked like, well, slop.)
But today, we've got a hearty pot of potato soup for you: one that can be made vegan and gluten free, and one that'll last you basically a week if you make it my way. To that end, we're focusing on the easy-to-get parts for our magic: the potato, carrot, pea, onion, and cabbage.
So let's get started!
Magic in Slovenian Potato Soup
Now, with all meals like this, there's really one major thing to do: money spells. Naturally, right? We eat Poor Man's Food so we can save that coin and continue to bolster our prosperity. Moreover, hearty foods like potato, cabbage, and carrot are great for resilience, healing, vitality, and luck, as well. It'll not only help you think wealth (especially with how surprisingly filling the meal is overall), but it'll also give you the strength you need, both physically and mentally, to carry on and do the work you need to do.
With planetary influences like Mars, Venus, and the Moon, as well as the elements of water, earth, and fire, this bowl of comfort helps you do a few things. For one, it helps you soothe yourself emotionally, restoring you and giving you the room to reflect, open up, and relax. Moreover, it gives you the stability you need to focus on a beautiful life ahead—and it also ramps up your creativity and fighting spirit, too, as you think about what you can do to continue preserving, and even growing, your house. This blend of energy is no joke, especially when you're strapped for resources and looking to survive for the long haul.
Slovenian Potato Soup
Prep time: 20min
Cook time: 60min
Makes 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
2 medium onions, diced
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 head of cabbage, rough chopped
5 medium potatoes
1lb of elbow pasta (optional)
2 cans of peas and carrots
1 can of green beans
1 can of lima beans
14oz crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp chicken bouillon or Vegeta
1 Tbsp oregano or marjoram
3 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 a stick of butter (or equal amounts oil)
1/2 cup flour or cornstarch*
Directions:
Heat up a little olive oil and fry your chopped cabbage for about 5-10 min, stirring occasionally.
Add and fry minced garlic until fragrant.
Add all your canned beans, carrots, peas, and tomato to the pot and stir.
Cube your potatoes and add them to the stew, along with enough water to cover everything.
Add your seasonings and stir well, then leave to simmer for an hour.
While stew is cooking, dice onions and fry in oil or butter on low heat until browned. (Be careful not to burn them.)
In the last 15min of the stew cooking, once onions are browned enough, add flour or cornstarch and mix until no dry flour remains, then let cook for a minute or so.
Ladle in a few ladles of soup a little at a time as you mix, until a loose paste forms.
Add all the roux to the soup and cook for the last 15min.
If you’re adding pasta as well: boil pasta separately in the last 10-15min, then drain and throw in the pot.
Stir everything together and serve.
*Depending on how thick you want your soup, you may add more or less flour or cornstarch. However, the purpose is to make a roux in your onions so that you can make the soup even heartier despite its lack of meat or other more notable proteins.
**If you’re not completely vegan and want to bump the protein factor in this meal, you can also boil some eggs on the side. Otherwise, the peas and beans make up the bulk of the protein.
***Add water to it the next day to heat it up, and it'll basically just be infinite soup. You can also add some chicken sausage to it if you want to put meat in there.
Growing up eating stuff like this, I can say that I will pretty much eat anything now. However, I can also say that I have the ability to appreciate a beautiful bowl of stew like this. So hearty you'd never guess there's no meat, and super flavorful and savory, it really is the perfect dish either for Lent or for making a budget stretch (or both)! Try it out! ♥
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Sara Raztresen is a Slovene-American writer, screenwriter, and Christian witch. Her fantasy works draw heavily on the wisdom she gathers from her own personal and spiritual experience, and her spiritual practice borrows much of the whimsy and wonder that modern society has relegated to fairy-and-folktale. Her goal is to help people regain their spiritual footing and discover God through a new (yet old) lens of mysticism.
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