serves 6-8

Good enough for dinner any night, this soup is of special benefit for those in the midst of chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Variations on this soup are a regular part of my anti-cancer lifestyle.

* 2 cups beet roots or tops, sliced (parsnips are great too)
* 2 cups water (spring water or filtered water)
* 1 cup dried seaweed (2 cups/500 ml after soaking)
* 6 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
* 3 onions, sliced from top to bottom (like crescent moons)
* 4 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 teaspoon sea salt
* 10-20 cloves garlic, sliced
* 1 thumb’s worth of ginger, sliced
* 4 ounces fresh shiitake, reishii, or wild mushrooms
* ~ or 1 ounce dried mushrooms
* 2 cups carrots, sliced
* 8-12 cups spring water or filtered water
* 1 ounce dried Siberian ginseng root, whole or cut
* optional: organic chicken, any amount
* optional: 1 cup cooked brown rice

Cover beets with water; cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, soak seaweed in hot water. On a low fire, saute the cabbage and onion in olive oil until limp, 5–10 minutes. Add salt, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, carrots, cooked beets and their cooking water, seaweed and its soaking water (watch out for grit at the bottom), and Siberian ginseng. Stir well. Add chicken and/or rice. Add water. Cover the pot tightly and raise the heat to high. As soon as the soup boils, reduce the heat. Simmer for 1 hour. Let it rest for several hours or overnight. Reheat before serving. Don’t worry about leftovers. The taste of this soup improves as it ages.

Recipe from Susun Weed’s book Breast Cancer? Breast Health!