Italian Kale Soup

It must be winter! All I want are warm comforting foods like soup. Here is a recipe for an easy and yummy Italian Kale soup. Ruby gobbled this one up- even the kale. This recipe was adapted from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped **
8 cups water
6 cubes (or teaspoons) vegetable bouillon **
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
6 red potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans and/or navy beans
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot; cook the onion and garlic until soft. Stir in the kale and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Stir in the water, vegetable bouillon, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, Italian seasoning, and parsley. Simmer soup on medium heat for 25 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

**Notes:
**For faster soup prep time, look for bags of kale that already have stems removed and are chopped.
**I really like Better than Bouillon vegetable base that come as a thick liquid is a small jar.

Mashed Potato Kale Cakes

This recipe is family friendly (it passed the Trevor test). It is adapted from Cooking Light.



Mashed Potato Kale Cakes
Yield: 8 patties
Ingredients

* 12 cups water
* 1 bunch kale, trimmed (about 4 ounces)
* 2 2/3 cups (1-inch) cubed Yukon gold or red potato (about 1 pound)
* 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 3 cups diced onion
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage (I used 1 to 1/2 tsp ground sage)
* 1/4 cup sliced green onions
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* Cooking spray


Preparation

Bring water to a boil in a Dutch oven; add kale. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until tender. Remove kale with a slotted spoon, reserving cooking liquid. Chop kale and set aside.

Add potato to reserved cooking liquid in pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Drain; partially mash potatoes. Stir in kale and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, diced onion, and chopped sage. Cook 13 minutes or until browned. Combine potato mixture, onion mixture, green onions, and pepper. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Divide potato mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Place patties on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes.

Preheat broiler.

Broil patties for 5 minutes or until browned. Garnish with sage sprigs, if desired.

**Notes- Look for big bags of pre-trimmed and chopped kale in the produce area. Be sure to remove the woody spine if you are trimming your own. I kept the potato skins on and they were good. I used a metal form to press mixture into to form patties. I skipped the broil step. Feel free to reduce the salt and then add at the table if needed.

What about Kale?

Kale is a superfood that is power packed.

A one cup serving of kale has 1327% of the recommended daily value (DV) of Vitamin K, 192% of the DV of Vitamin A, and 88% of the DV of Vitamin C. WOW! It is also a great source of many other nutrients including protein- yes, protein! This web resource gives a good view of the nutritional profile for kale. Also, kale and other cruciferous vegetables have received attention because of their sulfur-containing phytonutrients that seem to be powerful cancer preventing and fighting antioxidants.

Recipes:
Mashed Potato Kale Cakes