Spicy Kale Soup

Two posts in one day, again!  Woohoo! 

Over the last few months (the last 4 months to be specific), I’ve been striving to eat more leafy greens.  Something that I need, but doesn’t always agree with my finicky pregnant stomach.  Here’s a recipe my mom sent me a while back that I finally tried last night.  Not sure exactly where she got it from??   

I made a few modifications. I did not use the chipotle peppers, since we didn’t have any.  I just added a few extra chopped jalapenos.  I think this would be really good with some of the roasted ancho (or is it ‘pablano’ after they are roasted?) peppers that we have frozen from the farm.  I also just used half a can of diced tomatoes instead of the called for tomato sauce.

Spicy Kale and Potato Soup

• 1 TB organic extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 3 TB slivered garlic (about 9 cloves)
• 3 jalapeno peppers, minced
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, seeded and minced
• 1 1/2 pounds all-purpose potatoes, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1 1/4 tsps salt
• 2 bunches kale (24 oz), tough ends trimmed, finely shredded (about 20 cups loosely packed)
• 1 can (8 oz) no-salt-added tomato sauce
• 2 TB organic balsamic vinegar

In nonstick Dutch oven or stockpot, heat oil over low heat. Add onion, garlic, jalapenos, and chipotle and cook 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion is tender.

Stir in 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and salt, return to a boil, and cook 5 minutes. Add kale and return to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, partially cover, and cook 10 minutes or until kale is tender and potatoes are cooked through.

Stir in tomato sauce and cook 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar and serve.

Serves 6

Kale is packed with vitamins.  This soup (according to the recipe) is a good source of: beta-carotene, thiamin, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K, calcium, magnesium, potassium, lutein & zeaxanthin, quercetin, indoles, and capsaicin. 

Next time, I will leave out the potatoes all together.  They didn’t add any flavor, and they didn’t really absorb the flavor of the soup either. ??  But I will add wild rice in it’s place… this afternoon, I combined the left over soup with some cooked left over wild rice and it was awesome!    So I would recommend cooking the rice and then adding it right before serving. 

This soup would be perfect if you were sick with a sinus-y thing.  Spicy and delicious!