First, it depends on if you want a brothy soup, or a thicker "stew". The only difference is in cooking the meat, and you first ingredients and steps.
Chicken or ground beef work equally well.
If using chicken breasts, cut into one inch pieces. Saute just till you get some color.
For ground beef, brown the beef with a diced onion, and some minced garlic. and remove meat from pan. You need about 3 tbsp of grease (add butter if not enough) and add 3 tbsp of flour, stirring well, and let cook for a bit until the flour smells a little nutty. Add beef broth and make sure you get all the good bits from the bottom of the pan in order make a thicker gravy type starter.
Dump all of this into a crock pot.
Use all of the veg in your fridge, as well as your potatoes (cut these into 1/2 inch cubes)
Sweet. Red bell pepper needs to be chopped up, and of course your cabbage. Stir all together in your crock pot along with any other veg you want. Add more beef broth as needed to cover everything. I would stir in a packet of brown gravy mix, some worchestershire sauce (3 tbsp or so), garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and any other seasoning you like. Taste as you go, and only add salt if it needs it. The gravy packet, the broth, and the worchestershire are all very salty. You can also add kitchen bouquet (browning sauce, also adds flavor). Again, your ingredients should be your favorites. If you have zucchini, it good well. If you have kale or spinach, chop it fine and stir it in. You can add canned beans of your choice, just make sure you rinse them. If you want to add tomatoes for the flavor, use a single can of diced tomatoes, this also can make up some of your liquid. Either high at about 4 hours, or low and slow for 6-8 hrs, just make sure to stir, and make sure you have enough liquid to still have your stew. About 30 minutes before you think it's done, add some pearled barley, or any small pasta.
For seasoning, you could add au jus mix, rotel, canned chilis, whatever your favorites are.
Fridge cleanout soups and stews have been really rewarding for me, combining different veg, and seasonings, just using what i have on hand. The barley or pasta helps out go farther. Just experiment and find what you like!
And the chicken works the same way, only you don't want to cook the chicken thru in the pan. Once it's a little brown, remove, and Cottle l follow the same steps from there. Roux, broth for making the gravy/thickener. Then just build on it with what you like.
