Monday was New Year’s Eve, and it was in the 20’s when I got up. I don’t really do well if it gets below sixty, so I was cold. After I got off work I decided to make something nice and warm for dinner.
My Car Windshield
I really have been trying to eat healthier since I went to my doctor’s. (I promise! The butter was a fluke.) So I decided to make a vegetable and bean soup. I found the original recipe here.
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion (I used 1/2 of an onion)
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 carrot sticks, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups vegetable broth, divided
- 7 cups kale (Mine was purchased stemmed & chopped. If yours isn’t, you’ll want to do this)
- 3 (15-ounce) cans of beans (The original recipe called for 1 can of black beans and 2 cans of cannellini beans. I had neither & used 2 cans of kidney beans and 1 can of white northern beans. It turned out fine.)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (I went cheap & used a hearty sprinkle of dried rosemary.)
I typically do most of my chopping while cooking, but in this particular recipe there wasn’t a lot of spare time to chop. I made it work, but it would probably be much easier if you have the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic pre-chopped. Just a heads-up.
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and swirl to coat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Saute for 6 minutes or until tender. (I use the onion as a guide. If it’s translucent, it’s good to go.) Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and the garlic, cook for just a bit (30-60 seconds).
At this point, my mouth was watering. It smelled delicious!
Pour in 3 cups of the vegetable broth and all of the kale. It is going to look like the soup is entirely made of kale. It’s not; I promise. Kale cooks down quite a bit.
If you have a blender, place 1 can of beans and the remaining 1 cup of vegetable broth into it and blend until smooth. If not, use a potato masher and mash the beans into the 1 cup of broth. Once there are no more whole beans, it’s ready to be added to the pot. I don’t have a blender, so here are my beans:
Add the mashed bean/broth mix, the other 2 cans of beans, and the black pepper to the soup. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, red wine vinegar, and rosemary.
I have a thing for thick soups-if it’s not nearly a stew, I won’t eat it unless I can drink it. It has to be one extreme or the other. I was prepared for this to be a little thinner than I like, so I’d prepared a pot of orzo to serve the soup over. This is actually a pretty thick soup, so it didn’t need the orzo. I love carbs though, so I still served the soup over the orzo.
Wonderful warming soup & orzo!
I love the way this tasted. It’s very filling, but doesn’t leave me feeling stuffed. Next time, I might use a little less rosemary, and a bit more garlic and add some basil.
When reheating leftovers, I added a bit more vegetable broth as it thickened up quite a bit as it sat. I have had two meals for two out of this, and have enough for at least one more.
Hopefully this will warm y’all up just as much as it did me!!
PocketKitchenCook 