Veggie Soup with Kale

I love Kale... With all my heart.  And it's good for my heart.  And lots of other body parts....

Okay, I'm not a poet so I'll stop there.  I think with a little iteration I could turn that into a nice poem, but not today.  I've got some other things to do!  This is also the second attempt at posting this recipe--remember, yesterday I complained how blogger ate my post.  Cross your fingers that this post sticks.

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The days are starting to sort of feel like fall. Sort of.  (Never mind that it was in the low 80s on Saturday and the high 70s of Sunday.)  On Sunday, I wanted soup--warm, comforting soup.  I wanted it with lots of green.

I scoured the web and looked at many versions of veggie soup with Kale.  There are lots of similar recipes.  I didn't see anything that was exactly what I was looking for so I made one up.  Here it is:

2 yukon gold potatoes diced (not peeled)
1 large yellow onion diced
2-3 carrots diced
1-3 cloves of garlic diced
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 32-ounce container of veggie broth
~3 cups of water

Combine all of the above in a big stock pan and bring to a boil.  Let it cook at a slow boil for 20-40 minutes or until all the veggies are soft.  (The time it takes to make the veggies soft will depend on the size of the veggies.)

After the veggies are of a good texture add:

~28 ounces of diced tomatoes
another 32-ounce container of veggie broth
salt (if needed see how much is in your tomatoes and broth)
1 zucchini sliced into thin pieces (I sliced thin and then quartered) (peel or not, your preference, I didn't)

Cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Add Kale 3-4 cups chopped with stems removed

You could stop here as it's a delicious very low-fat, no-oil soup.  Or, if you're feeling adventurous you can add 2 links of Italian Vegan Field Roast Sausage chopped into small pieces. (Nick, Nat, and I love this stuff.)

If you choose to add the vegan sausage you will add fat to the soup, but it's delicious!

After you add Kale (and the vegan sausage), cook for another 5-10 minutes.  

Here are the nutrition facts without the vegan sausage.  If you add the sausage you add ~2 grams of fat per serving and ~48 more calories.   (I'm calculating 10 very GENEROUS servings for this recipe, but it might be more like 16 normal sized servings.  I love soup!)

Kid report:
Nat, the vegan who loves veggies, ate the soup.
Kira ate the broth and the potatoes
Tia ate the broth, potatoes, garbanzo beans, vegan sausage, and a few pieces of zucchini.

Yea, I had to try to ladle the soup up with only their preferred veggies.
 
I'll be making this soup again this fall and winter!