Swallowtail Soup

The two older kids and Hubby went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and came back with some seasonal veggies and fresh dill. I used to make a vegetarian Borscht, but haven't made it in a long time because it's main ingredients: potatoes, tomatoes and beets are on the "Not Allowed" list for some or most of us. I thought about it and went to HEB and bought some additional veggies and this is what I came up with. It was very tasty and has gotten better each day. The substitution of sweet potatoes does a good job replacing the beets and I didn't miss the tomatoes. We decided to call it Swallowtail Soup because we have never been able to grow dill at home for more than a few weeks because the Swallowtail butterflies come and eat it up!

Number One Daughter has been wanting to help in the kitchen, so I cut up all the veggies and we put them in a plastic bowl which she then passed on to Hubby who put them in the pot. We are so very blessed that the kids all loved this soup, asked for seconds and ate it as leftovers.

1 small onion or 2 golf ball sized green onions (tops included)(chopped)
1 shallot (chopped)
3 ribs celery (chopped)
4 carrots (peeled and chopped)
2 bay leaves
4 sweet potatoes(peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes)
1 head cabbage (chopped)
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill (dried won't work)
2 cans black beans
Sour Cream for garnish
Water
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper

This requires a very large soup or stock pot. Add about a quart of water into the pot with the onions, shallot, bay leaves, celery and carrots, boil for about 10 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and more water to cover, cook for another 10 minutes. Add the cabbage, black beans and dill and possibly more water to cover, and cook until the cabbage has wilted, about 10-15 minutes after it returns to a boil. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

This is a good non-meat meal for Lent. We have been eating on ours for three days. We used our biggest snap on lid container to store it. I'm sure that most families would eat this with a starch (we used to eat Pumpernickel/Swiss grilled cheese with Borscht, before food allergies) and maybe a salad.