Once I figured out how simple (and delicious) it is to whip up a big pot of homemade soup (as opposed to the sodium-filled canned variety), I couldn't stop. I make a lot of soups that are basically a combination of whatever is left in the fridge, which surprisingly almost always turn out well. There's one "go-to" soup that I end up cooking about once a week, because it's SO good and easy to make. I actually never measured out the ingredients until I sat down to write this recipe, but you can feel free to alter to your tastes.
There are three ingredients that really make this soup special: kale, chicken sausage and yukon gold potatoes.
Actually, the real star of this soup is the spicy Italian chicken sausage. Be sure to buy pre-cooked chicken sausage, because it will reduce your overall cooking time. Since the sausage is so highly seasoned, you don't need to add many more spices to the soup to achieve delicious, bold flavor. The soup itself (from start to finish) takes less than an hour to make! Sometimes I serve it with a side of bread, but honestly, the soup is filling enough on it's own. Feel free to add in additional ingredients (like white beans, lentils, leftover chicken or turkey, carrots or mushrooms) to bulk it up even more.
You might want to double this recipe, because (like most soups) it tastes even better the next day.
Ingredients:
1 32 oz. box low-sodium chicken broth
24 oz. water
3 small (or 2 medium) yukon gold potatoes
1 small onion
2 spicy Italian chicken sausages (fully cooked)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 cups raw, chopped kale
Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling (optional)
Directions
Pour chicken broth and water into a pot and bring to a boil. Dice the potatoes into 1" cubes and add to the boiling water. Cook on high for 15 minutes. Dice onion into small pieces and add to the pot. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes. Cut sausage into small slices and add into the pot, along with the bay leaves, garlic, salt and pepper and stir well. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Add in kale, stir well and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove bay leaves from pot. Pour soup into 4 bowls and (if desired) sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top.
