Kale and White Bean Soup with Sausage

I am so happy I found the recipe for this soup. This is the soup that you want for lunch or dinner on a cold fall or winter day. This soup was so good! I had noticed that Trader Joe's now carries bags of washed and cut kale, so I bought a bag and went on a search for the best sounding bean, kale and sausage soup. I liked everything about this recipe that I found on food.com. Here is your link for Mediteranean Kale White Bean Soup with Sausage.

Mediterranean Kale and White Bean Soup with Sausage

I did make one change to this recipe. I used half Trader Joe's Italian Sweet Sausage and half Spicy Hot sausage. I bought the hot sausage at Trader Joe's also. It didn't have their name on it, but it was the brand they sell. I don't remember the name, but it is probably a different brand in every area. When you read the recipe you may wonder about the fresh lemon juice and the grated zest and might be tempted to omit it, but make sure you don't leave it out. It adds the most amazing flavor and takes it to another level! You will be a very happy soup eater! Other than that, you can have dinner on the table in an hour. My kale took at least 20 minutes to cook to the tenderness we prefer. I would suggest poking the kale with a fork to see if it is your desired tenderness.

Easy Focaccia

I made a focaccia to go with our soup. It was really good dunked in the broth. It was easy to make and it was ready to eat within an hour also. I was in an adventurous mood so I sprinkled fennel seeds on top, but I don't think I will do that again. The flavor was really good, but they became extra crunchy due to the 475 degree oven. I might experiment by soaking them in water for a little while first to see what if that makes any difference.


Enjoy!