Hey y’all! It’s Meg here from Be Fit. Be Full. I am really excited to do a guest post for Green Dog Wine, as this is one of my favorite blogs! Mainly because I find myself laughing hysterically all the time. Don’t you?

So now that were nearing winter (groan), I thought I would share one of my favorite soup recipes with you guys.

Kale and potato soup with chicken sausage. Yum!

Tis’ the season for soup!

Below is the recipe I used as a guideline, compliments of myrecipes.com:

I slightly altered a few things, as I rarely follow recipes to a tee.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon  cooking oil
• 1 pound  turkey or chicken sausage
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4  cloves garlic, cut into thin slices
• 1 quart water
• 2 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock – I used 3 cups of broth
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  salt
• 1 1/2  pounds  boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 14-inch pieces
• Pinch dried red-pepper flakes – I also added tabasco
• 1 pound  kale, stems removed, leaves shredded – I used 1.5 pounds of kale
• 1/4  teaspoon  fresh-ground black pepper

Preparation

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the sausage and cook, turning, until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the sausage from the pot and, when it is cool enough to handle, cut it into slices. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from the pan.

2. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, for 1 minute longer.

3. Add the water, broth, and salt and bring the soup to a boil. Add the sausage, potatoes, and red-pepper flakes and bring back to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for 2 minutes. Add the kale and bring the soup back to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, until the potatoes and kale are tender, about 6 minutes longer. Add the black pepper.

I am going to show you the step by step process – yay! There are several steps so be sure to pay attention!

First things first, I rinsed and peeled the potatoes.

Next I cubed them.

Then it was time to chop the onion!

Which made me cry – per usual.

Then some kale rinsing took place.

Following by a wee little break to enjoy the sunset

Good thing I didn’t have anything in the oven or on the stove yet as I admired the sunset for a good ten minutes!

Once I got back on track I removed the stems from the kale.

Hello dorky smile!

And rinsed the leaves.

And finally, the last step of prep….

Chopping some garlic! Mmmm…I love, love garlic.

Ok, now time to start cooking!

I began by cooking the chicken sausage on low heat.

Spicy Italian is my favorite!

Next up? Sautéing the onions. I also love, love onions! Even though they make me cry.

Then I threw in the garlic.

While the garlic & onions were sautéing, I chopped the chicken sausage into pieces.

Then it was finally time to add some water & broth!

Next I threw in the potatoes and sausage.

And lastly I added the kale.

And voila! The final product

All nice and steamy. Just how I like it 

I would also recommend complimenting the meal with some toasted bread.

With olive oil and parmesan cheese on top.

And some pinot noir.

Oyster Bay to be precise

Oh, and I almost forgot the most important ingredient in the soup!!!

Everything needs to be spiced up with some Tabasco!

And we all know how much Allison loves spiciness!

This really is such a delicious soup and makes for great leftovers. While there did seem to be a lot of steps, all in all it was pretty quick & easy.

Enjoy!