Kale and Kielbasa Soup

The broth and flavor of this soup never gets old. It is great leftover and perfect for any cold night. It is quick and easy to make with only a few ingredients to purchase (which is always a plus in my book). The base of this soup is similar to the Tuscan Ribollita soup that I made earlier. 


Servings: 8-10 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes 
Cook Time: 50 minutes


Ingredients:
1 lb. kielbasa sausage
2 large carrots
2 yellow onions (or 1 large yellow onion)
4 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 cups chopped kale
1 bay leaf
2 (14 oz) cans cannellini beans
7 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper


Chop 2 whole carrots into small pieces and set aside. 

Chop 1 large or 2 small yellow onions and set aside.

Mince 4 cloves of garlic and set aside. 

Slice kielbasa into 1/4 inch rounds.

In a large stock pot over medium high heat, cook kielbasa slices until slightly brown, about 5 minutes.

Remove kielbasa and set aside.

Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil into the stock pot with the kielbasa drippings over medium heat. Stir in onions and carrots and cook until tender for about 5-8 minutes. 

Stir in the minced garlic and cook for 1 additional minute. 

Remove stems of kale and chop into thin strips.

Stir the kale into the stock pot and cover with a lid and steam the kale for 4 minutes.

Season sautéed vegetables with salt and pepper.

Drain cannellini beans in a colander over the sink.

Stir in cannellini beans, bay leaf, and kielbasa. 

Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. 

Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy!

'Til next time,

Caroline

New Year's Day Good Luck Soup

Happy New Year!

What’s a new year without a resolution right?  I’ve been thinking the past few days about mine: the 876th diet attempt, being nicer, laughing more, yada yada yada. Last night as I was preparing my New Year’s Eve soups (see prior post) it was made abundantly clear as to what my new year’s resolution will be: simplicity. I need to stop trying to do it all. You know the ol’ "less is more," "quality over quantity," etc.  

I was preparing three soups: taco soup, broccoli cheese and New Year’s Day good luck soup.  In my mind this was going to be an uber-relaxing day full of great music, cooking, photographing and blogging my soups until my guests arrived. I was wrong. I got a way late start because I was trying to do too much like clean out a closet and reorganize my kitchen cabinets. I even made a run to the mall for hand soap and wash cloths because I couldn’t find any. I forgot that I wanted to make guacamole and I still needed to chop all of my veggies for my hummus. Needless to say, documenting these soups didn’t quite happen as I had hoped for as I was just starting cooking when my friend’s arrived.

Let me tell you why simplicity is my new resolution.  Here’s what went wrong:

I bought fancy-smanshy bread and put it in the oven to cook.  An hour and a half later I found it…charred unrecognizably. 2013: I’m buying crackers only.

I put my three soups in my brand-spanking-new 3 pot crockpot to cook and keep warm as we ate throughout the night.  Forgot to plug it in. Didn’t notice until a couple of hours later. 2013: I’m preparing one soup. The other two will be frozen or canned.

Forgot to put in two main ingredients that thickens the broccoli cheese soup until it was too late. 2013: Eat it anyway.

2013: forget the organizing, cleaning, buying hand-soap and making appetizers.

Here is the recipe and pictures for New Year’s Day Good Luck Soup. Even though I probably didn’t do this recipe justice in pictures, it still turned out pretty good.

Ingredients:
1 package of carving board ham
2 celery ribs
1 medium onion
2 carrots
2 garlic cloves
2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans no-salt-added stewed tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups chopped fresh kale
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (Tbsp of dried parsley)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop your onions, garlic and carrots in a food processor.

Dice your celery and sauté in a stockpot along with your onions, carrots and garlic. 

Add your broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, black beans, kale and ham and simmer about 30 minutes.  I chopped up the kale and used frozen black beans. I bought the pre-cooked carving board ham for convenience. I would recommend that you use canned black-eyed peas if you are in a hurry because the frozen took a while to become tender. You can substitute spinach for kale if you like. 

At first I didn’t think I was going to like this soup but after it cooked in the crockpot for a while, the flavors married nicely and the kale and black-eyes peas cooked well. I enjoyed this healthy soup and I think it will be my new New Year's tradition!

I added a little Parmesan cheese and pita chips. Yummy.

Cheers to a simplified 2013!

‘Till next time,
Natalie

Tuscan Ribollita

This recipe for Tuscan Ribollita is as authentic as they come. While traveling around the world, my brother's girlfriend, Reva, spent some time in Italy. While in Tuscany, she learned quite a few recipes, one of them being this recipe for Tuscan Ribollita. There are quite a few variations on this hearty soup but the main ingredients always include leftover bread, cannellini beans, and inexpensive vegetables. 

Ingredients:

2 carrots

1 small onion

2 garlic cloves

olive oil to taste

1 bunch of kale, shredded

7 cups vegetable broth

3 (15.5 oz) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper 

In a food processor, pulse carrots, onions, garlic, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a small to medium dice. In a large stock pot, heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Sauté vegetables in oil for about 5 minutes. Next stir in the shredded kale to the stock pot and cook for about 10 minutes. In Italy, they use cavolo nero kale or also known as black leaf kale. If you can find it, use it. If not, your traditional grocery store kale will work just as well.   

Once your kale has cooked for about 10 minutes, or looks like the picture above, stir in 2 cups of vegetable broth. Bring the soup to a simmer and simmer for about 5 minutes. While simmering, put 1 & 1/2 cans of the cannellini beans into a food processor with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Puree the beans and olive oil until smooth. Stir the pureed beans into the soup.

Add the remainder of the broth, whole beans, and seasonings into the soup. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes. Just before serving, tear bread into bite sized pieces and let soften in soup. Drizzle with olive oil and enjoy. 

'Till next time,

Caroline