hearty dilled cabbage-rice soup

as promised, i am regaling you with pictures and recipes for my famous no-teeth-required vegan gruels in all their brown mushy glory. this one here is a hearty and healthy flavorful winter soup redolent with the frangrance and flavor of dill. the cabbage cooks up meltingly tender and the rice give it a nice full body. i cook most of my soups and all of my beans in a kuhn-rikon pressure cooker, the big-mack-daddy cadillac of pressure cookers. if you like to cook it quick or prepare a lot of beans (so tender!), then i highly recommend picking yourself up one of these babies. directions below are for regular stovetop preparation.

dilled cabbage-rice soup
1 onion, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
5-6 button mushrooms
1 large cabbage, quartered cored and finely sliced
8 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup brown long grain rice
3-4 plum tomatoes, canned OR 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon dried dill (or fresh, if you have it!)
salt and fresh black pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons balsalmic vinegar, to taste

bring stock to a boil and add onions. you may saute the onions in a little olive oil until soft if you like but i usually omit this step. simmer for a few minutes and add rinsed, uncooked rice, and all ingredients except for balsamic vinegar. simmer covered until rice is cooked and cabbage is meltingly tender. add salt, pepper and balsalmic vinegar to taste. as with most soups, the flavor of this dish improves the following day.