December 26, 2025

Friday happy hour on a windy, chilly night at #vanaprastha Kielbasa and cabbage soup with an herb focaccia made by a dear friend, and a @flyingfox Cabernet Franc. Stories and double feature recipes tomorrow on my Substack.

Some of you might know that I have a long-standing blog titled Notes from Vanaprastha, to which I post every Monday. This coming week, I’ll be writing about protecting your peace: a recipe for successful visits on Christmas—some of the debriefing Keith and I did last night. Check out that blog reflection and others on caroleduff.com.

But for today, a post-Christmas double feature. Cabbage Soup with Kielbasa, based on a recipe in the Basic Necessities Soup Cookbook, and our church’s 2025 cookie competition prize-winner, Gluten Free Eggnog Snickerdoodles.

First, Cabbage Soup with Kielbasa with notations from the cooks at Basics and mine in bold. A very flexible recipe but use smoky sausage; okay to omit potato and carrot—I didn’t; add celery—I did.

Ingredients:

1 pound of Kielbasa, sliced in ½-inch chunks—14 oz. was the maximum I could find.

¼ cup water

1 TB olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped small

1 large celery stalk, chopped

½ head of cabbage or 1 small, chopped and shredded

2 or 3 red skinned potatoes, diced—I used 12 mini red potatoes, skins on.

1 tsp dried thyme or 1 TB fresh minced thyme—I used dried to save time.

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup cream (optional)—I used more, almost double for liquid and creaminess.

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste—I used ~2 tsp salt and ~20-30 grinds of pepper

Fresh parsley for garnish (optional)—nope, the cold has killed back.

Directions:

In a large skillet, brown the sausage. Add the water and simmer until sausage is thoroughly heated and water evaporates. Set aside.

Heat oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven; sauté the onions, carrots, and celery on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, including sausage, but not the cream; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Lower heat; add cream; heat gently. Season to taste.

Eggnog Snickerdoodles (Gluten-Free version)

Yield: ~3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

· 1 cup unsalted butter, softened

· 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar, divided

· 2 large eggs, room temperature

· 1 tsp. rum extract

· ½ tsp. vanilla extract

· 2 ¾ cups flour – all purpose or 1-1 Gluten-free

· 1 tsp. baking powder

· ¾ tsp. kosher salt

· ½ tsp. cream of tartar

· ¾ tsp. ground nutmeg, divided

· 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

Beat butter and 1½ cups granulated sugar with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes; scrape down sides as necessary. Add eggs, rum extract, and vanilla; beat on medium speed until just combined, 15-30 seconds.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, kosher salt, cream of tartar, and ½ tsp. nutmeg until combined. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in 3 additions until just incorporated, 1-2 minutes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill about 30 minutes until firm.

Preheat oven to 400⁰F. In a small bowl, whisk together cinnamon, remaining ¼ cup sugar, and remaining ¼ tsp. nutmeg. Scoop a generous tablespoon of dough per cookie, roll into balls, and roll in cinnamon mixture until evenly coated. Arrange on parchment paper-lined baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart—about 8 cookies per baking sheet. For GF, flatten cookie balls with the bottom of a glass before baking, as they don’t spread much.

In preheated oven, bake cookies 1 baking sheet at a time until edges are set, 7-8 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet, 5 minutes; transfer to wire racks; cool completely, 20 minutes.

Store in a sealed container at room temperature.

That’s it for today. See you next week, in the New Year! -C.D.