Kale and Potato Soup

Last week I bought a 3 pound bag of kale. It was $5, I couldn’t pass it up. Plus, there are so many benefits of kale and I’m trying to put variety in my diet. I was adding kale to my smoothies, but wasn’t making a dent in that bag. Last night I sought out ideas of how I could utilize a large amount of kale, so it wouldn’t go bad. I felt like I was on Iron Chef, given one major ingredient and had to make a meal around it. Kale is pretty versatile, so it wasn’t too difficult.

Kale and Potato Soup Photo credit: FMITK.com

Now that it’s fall (not too much in San Diego, but I like to pretend), soup is on my list for delicious dinners. I love soup. It’s easy to make. It’s healthy and you can impress people with just 30 minutes of cooking time. Monday’s meal was Kale and Potato Soup. When I cook, I look up several recipes for one meal and make my own combination of the things I like. I never actually follow one recipe verbatim. I wing it based on different recipes I read. I think it’s more fun this way.

Kale and Potato Soup Ingredients: 

• 3 handfuls of kale (I just put in as much as I thought was needed)
• 3 medium red potatoes
• 3/4 of a large onion
• 2 spinach and feta chicken sausages (you can use any flavor, really)
• Olive Oil (I eye ball this.

Seasonings ( I never measure these out, I eye ball and add as I taste it):

• crushed red pepper
• black pepper
• sea salt
• 1/2-1 spoonful of minced garlic
• onion powder
• 2-3 bay leaves
• ground thyme
• 32 oz vegetable broth (1 box)

Optional:

• 1/2 cup half-and-half or whole milk (*note: I didn’t add this, but I saw some recipes with it)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• garbanzo beans ( I was going to add this, but it already seemed cluttered to me)

I chopped up a large onion, took one two spoonful of minced garlic (I like  love garlic, I always put a lot in) and put them into a large pan. On low to medium heat, I let it sear for a couple of minutes. Then I chopped three medium red potatoes and added them to the pot. I added the seasonings: crushed red peppers, salt and black pepper. I let those cook for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes were softer (I could stab it with a fork, but they didn’t fall apart). Then, I added the chicken sausage and bay leaves. Cooked it all for about 5 minutes.

Searing the minced garlic and onions.

Once that had cooked, I added a cup of water and the vegetable broth. I added thyme and a little bit of onion powder (I love onion powder, I use it in almost everything that I cook). I also added a little bit of garlic salt after tasting it. After stirring those in, I brought it to a boil.

This was my final product. Yummy! (my kitchen doesn’t have the best lighting esp at 7:30 pm)

After bringing it to a boil, turn it down to a simmer. I let it simmer for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes were soft. Turn off the heat, let it cool about 5 minutes. Pair it with a toasted piece of sourdough. It was soooooo yummy. I ate two bowls. Nic added cheese to his because he’s a weirdo and adds cheese to everything. So, if you’re looking for something easy, quick, healthy and delicious, Kale and Potato Soup is where it’s at.

Sorry my pictures suck, I promise it was delicious. (I should probably get a light for my living room ha!)

What other ways can one use kale? 

Does anyone else love soup as much as I do?