Oktoberfest Stoup

Taken from Rachael Ray's book, "30 Minute Get Real Meals" (lower carb meals). I've made a few minor changes/suggestions (as noted in parantheses). I am going to be using this in my OAMC and will update the recipe after I've tried it out!

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2  tablespoons  vegetable oil
• 2  tablespoons butter, cut into pats
• 3  knockwurst, diced into 1 inch cubes (or substitute 3 extra brats)
• 3  bratwursts, diced into 1 inch cubes
• 1  red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• 2  lbs red cabbage, quartered and shredded
• 1  teaspoon caraway seed
•  salt and pepper
• 1 (12 ounce) bottle dark beer or 1 (12 ounce) bottle beef broth
• 1  quart  veal stock or 1  quart  beef stock or 1  quart vegetable broth or 1  quart  chicken stock
• 2  cups tomato sauce
• 2  tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1  fresh bay leaves or 1  dried bay leaf
• 3  tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2  Red Delicious apples or 2  golden delicious apples, peeled and diced
• 1⁄2  lemon, juice of

Directions

1. Heat a big soup pot over medium-high heat. Add 1 table­spoon of the vegetable oil and half the butter.
2. When the butter melts into the oil, add the cubed wursts and brown them on all sides, 5 minutes. Remove the browned sausages and add the remaining tablespoon each of oil and butter.
3. When the butter melts into the oil, add the onion and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and car­away, season with salt and pepper, and stir. Cook the cab­bage for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add the beer and cook down 1 minute. Add the stock, tomato sauce, Worcestershire, and bay leaf and stir to combine. Add the wursts back to the pot. Cover the pot and bring the soup up to a boil, 2 or 3 minutes.
5. Remove the lid and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes longer, until the cabbage is tender. Remove the bay leaf.
6. Combine the parsley, apple, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Ladle the soup into shallow bowls and top with generous spoonfuls of the flavored apples to stir into the soup as you eat it.