Ingredients:

  • One small cabbage

  • One medium onion

  • Four carrots

  • Three large potatoes

  • Two cups frozen corn

  • One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

  • Seven cups water

  • Four tablespoons olive oil

  • One half lemon, juiced and strained (optional)

  • One teaspoon vegetable seasoning

  • One tablespoon salt

Directions:

  • Cut the cabbage in quarters and take out the hard center piece in each quarter.
  • Slice the quarters into shreds about one-half inch thick.
  • Peel and slice the carrots into chunky rounds.
  • Peel the potatoes and dice into pieces about a half-inch square.
  • Heat the olive oil in a six-quart, dutch-oven pan.
  • Add the chopped vegetables and cook, covered, over medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring often.
  • After the vegetables are “sweated,” add the vegetable seasoning and continue to cook and stir another five minutes, so as to create a “flavor base” for the vegetables.
  • Add the canned tomatoes.
  • Fill the empty can with water twice and add to the soup pot. Add the salt.
  • Bring the soup to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.
  • Add the frozen corn, bring the soup back to a boil and simmer another ten minutes.
  • When soup is done, add the strained lemon juice, if desired.

Serve with any kind of homemade bread. We used spiced pumpkin bread and it was very good.

Why is this called gypsy soup?

I was playing some gypsy music when we dined and it seemed like this would be an easy pantry to keep in the back of a gypsy wagon. Actually, this recipe was just the result of what I happened to have on hand at the time, which seems a gypsy way to cook. Ola!

Robin Jenkins  (February 5, 2006)

Astrological Lore:This is a nice recipe for Virgo times because it’s simple, frugal and healthful.  When Sol is in Virgo and Luna is full in Pisces, Jupiter is emphasized as the co-ruler of Pisces.  Jupiter rules Sagittarius, sign of the gypsies, who are wanderers.  Gypsy music does the trick for a Full Moon in Pisces.

In addition, root vegetables are said to be restorative to the body during the time of a lunar eclipse because they relate to the Moon through the Earth.