The Sunday Food-Related Post: Heart-Warming Soup for Football Weather


Everybody likes soup…

I’m done with trying to create mojo-inducing recipes. I’m just going for the quick, the simple, and the hearty today. This recipe was actually invented by my daughter, and unlike most of my recipes it has been tested many times, as the soup is a family favorite.

This isn’t surprising, as it is somehow more than the sum of its very simple parts. And you can make it in about 25 minutes or less, which is necessary for my daughter and a bonus for me. And although this recipe has been frequently tested, my daughter, like me, is not particularly interested in precise measurements. But with this sort of recipe it really doesn’t matter. Here goes:

Kale Sausage Soup

Take a pound or so of Italian sausage. If it is in casings slice the sausages longways, strip off the casing, and chuck it into a pan. A large one. You’ll need the room for the kale. Cook the sausage, stirring and chopping it up if it was in casings. You want chunks of sausage but lots of them, not a few big ones. Once the fat is rendering out throw in a whole chopped onion. A big one.

Cook the onion and sausage together until the onion is translucent. Then dump as much as your pan will hold of one of those big bags of pre-chopped kale. If it is pretty dry throw in a few tablespoons of water. If you can’t get those, or want to make it more difficult, wash and chop the kale. The water sticking to the kale is probably sufficient.

Put on a tight-fitting lid and reduce the heat. Cook the kale mixture for 5-10 minutes, depending on how cooked you like your kale, stirring it from time to time and adding a bit more water if it is dry.

When the kale is cooked to your liking, remove the lid of the pan and dump in a quart box of red pepper tomato bisque. They have it at Trader Joe’s or Costco or just about anywhere. Stir it up and heat gently. Taste for seasonings and serve.

You can put some sour cream in just before you serve, or grate some cheese on top, or whatever else you can think of, but really it’s great as is. And the recipe is super flexible. The last time I made it I got to the “dump in the red pepper tomato bisque” part and then realized I was out of boxes of soup. It was too cold to go to the store, so I just threw in a a large can of tomatoes, some Montreal steak seasoning, some Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde, and some sour cream. It was delicious, but not better than the original.

This is so healthy that you will be completely justified in eating, say, a half dozen of the coconut macaroons they also sell at Trader Joe’s. (And no, I don’t get a kickback from them either, although if someone would like to make me an offer I’ll give it due consideration…) Or you could opt for a big bowl of next week’s recipe, Gingerbread Pear Trifle, although of course you’ll have to wait until next week, because this is an exclusive recipe I invented myself, and unlike some of my inventions it has been tested numerous times…


  • cold_old_steelers_fan

    Up until the tomato bisque, this reminded me of a semi-traditional Mennonite recipe (lots of Mennonites and Hutterites in Manitoba) that used farmers sausage and broccoli. The difference was chicken soup broth was added and some times barley. I am not certain of the spices and herbs but I suspect garlic, salt and black pepper would be the main additions.


  • Apparently Little Darlin’ is not alone in her Trader Joe’s affection.


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