No Soup For You!

Just kidding.  I hope you get that Seinfeld reference.

No "Soup Nazi" here!  "Soup for all!", says this Jewish girl.  [quick "disclaimer"--I do eat pork.  I'm not Kosher.  However, I try to be on High Holidays].

Even though we had returned to a warm Vegas from the cool, Upstate New York weather, I was still in the mood for the kind of food you crave when it's cold outside.

I don't care how many people are picking on kale these days--I love this stuff!  Roger doesn't like the texture of cooked spinach, so this is a great alternative for him.  I, on the other hand, could eat spinach in anything!  Ford loves both, so, YAY!

As much as I love cooking, I follow recipes very loosely.  When I sat down to write this recipe out, it was a bit more challenging than I anticipated, because I usually just throw everything together without measuring.  I will do my best to make these recipes easy to follow, but if you have questions, throw 'em at me!

I call this:

Smoked sausage, potato, and kale soup.

I like to use organic, minimally processed ingredients whenever possible.  You'll see that the smoked pork sausage is not organic, but it's nitrate-free, hormone-free, and antibiotic-free.  The grocery store that I frequent here in Las Vegas is called Smith's, and it's part of the Kroger brand.  They have a line of products called Simple Truth, and Simple Truth Organic.  It's their in-house brand, and I belong to their "shopper's club", so I get coupons and they are really affordable anyway.

Here is a lovely little list of the ingredients:

• 32 oz box of chicken stock (or homemade!)
• 1 lb of smoked sausage
• 3 carrots (peeled or unpeeled, your preference)
• 2 medium-large potatoes 
• 1 large bunch of kale, leaves torn from stems
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced 
• 1/8 cup of dried minced onions (or 1/4 cup real onion)
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Mince the garlic, cut up the carrots and potatoes, and rip apart the kale.  I didn't peel the potatoes or the carrots; I just scrubbed them under running water.  Slicing the smoked sausage into coins is my preference, but you could cut those in half if you like smaller pieces.  

 As you can see, I'm using a french oven here.  Roger got it for me last Christmas and I absolutely love it!  I sauteed the garlic and dried minced onion in a few glugs of olive oil.  I have a serious aversion to onions, but I think I'll use real ones next time, because the dried ones cook really fast!  I need to break the onions down in my food processor almost to a paste, because I can't handle biting into one.  I'm such a baby about it, I know!  I added the sausage and let that brown a little bit, and then threw in the carrots, and gave it a good stir.  As you can see, some of that dried minced onion just about burned.  OOPS!  

Add in the potatoes and the stock next.  Also, some salt and pepper.  Let it come to a boil, and then simmer with the lid on for about 12-ish minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are tender.  

The milk and kale are lonely for the 12 minutes that everything is simmering together on the stovetop.

Stir in the milk and kale.  The kale wilts to our liking pretty much right away, so this was ready to go! 

And there you have it!  Sausage, potato, and kale soup.  I'm just starting out with photographing food, so I realize the above picture is not the most beautiful.  We all loved it though, and Roger took the leftovers to work the next day, and says it reheats well.  Let me know if you try it out!