white bean and kale minestrone

this soup has become a family favorite... it has also become my go-to soup because it is so easy to keep the majority of the ingredients on hand, and it comes together quite quickly.

i was originally inspired by martha's recipe... i loved the idea of a tomato base with white beans and greens... but i did not like the idea of tomato paste... yuck. i think the changes that i made really improved the soup... so i am going to share my version with you. 

white bean and kale minestrone

ingredients:

-1 med. onion

-5-6 clovess garlic

-1 tsp thyme

-3-4 large kale leaves

-1 quart tomato sauce (or two cans tomato sauce)

-1 quart stewed tomatos (or two cans diced/stewed tomatoes)

-3 cans white beans

-olive oil

-salt

-pepper

-red pepper flakes

optional:

-3 sausages

-romano cheese

prep:

chop the onion and garlic. rinse the kale and remove the stems. stack the leaves, roll them up, and slice them into the little ribbons (this is called chiffonade). 

cooking directions:

heat the olive oil in your soup pot on medium heat. add the onions and cook until translucent and soft. add the garlic and thyme. cook until fragrant. add the kale and cook until leaves soften and turn a dark green. add the tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and white beans. bring to a mild boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. add salt and pepper to taste (i often add aprox. 3 tbsps, but i use my home canned sauce and stewed tomatoes which have no added salt. if you are using sauce with salt added you may not need any salt or very little). add a little dash of red pepper flakes. serve it up, and top with romano cheese. another variation that my family really likes is to slice up some sausages and fry them a bit in a separate pan and then add them to the soup.

this soup serves my family of six two dinners. we have it the night i make it and then two nights later we usually heat it up and eat it again. if there is only 2-4 of you... i would cut down the recipe... maybe 1 can sauce, 1 can stewed tomatoes, and 1 can beans, 1 or 2 leaves kale, 2 cloves garlic, etc, etc.

i hope you enjoy the soup! if anyone has any recommendations on tomato sauce brands... please share in the comments! you can find little bits of our tomato saucing and canning here, here, here, and here.

and just a couple more things...

geninne zlatkis's new desktop calendar... find it here.

... and how about we wrap it up with some sweet snuggling babes.