a favorite weekend soup
Friday, April 8, 2011 at 12:41PM 
Well hey there! I'm in the middle of my last clinical rotation and it's intense. Even though it's exhausting, there's something really amazing about getting to this point - the culmination of an incredible journey. I can't believe I have less than four weeks 'til graduation!
A stocked freezer has been keeping me going lately. I feel like I'm at the hospital all the time - the thought of whipping up dinner each night is just too much. Being able to heat up something warm and comforting is just the ticket, and this soup definitely fits the bill. While I love cooking new things, I decided to return to some old standbys this week and thought I'd share a favorite with you - a soup inspired by this real simple recipe. Besides browning the sausage and cooking the leeks for a few minutes, it's truly just a matter of pouring ingredients into a pot - the perfect thing to simmer away on a Sunday afternoon.
xo
Lizzie's Vegetable Soup
(I forgot to take pictures so you're stuck with Real Simple's version, which is much prettier than mine would be anyway)
Ingredients:
- 1 pound sweet italian sausage, ground (not in links) - I'd use more next time, this makes a lot of soup!
- 4 leeks (white and light green parts), sliced into thin half-moons
- 1 28-ounce can of chopped tomatoes (you can use whole tomatoes if you want, but having them already chopped saves time!)
- 8 cups of chicken stock
- 1 sweet potato, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 regular potato, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 bag of frozen kale (fresh is certainly an option here, but the frozen stuff is cheaper at whole foods, and already chopped up for you!)
- 1/2 cup of lentils
- 1 t of dried thyme (I probably used a little more than this)
1. Brown the sausage in a dutch oven or big pot. The sausage should have enough fat in it that it doesn't need oil but feel free to add a smidge if it makes you feel better. You'll need to crumble the sausage up as it cooks (which might sound completely obvious but once upon a time I didn't know how to cook and definitely would have let it stay as a big block).
2. Throw in the leeks when the sausage is almost all the way browned. Stir until they're soft, about five minutes.
3. Pour in the chopped tomatoes with their juices and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil.
4. Stir in kale, lentils, and salt and pepper to taste (how much you need will depend on how salty your stock is). Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
Ta-da! Hearty vegetable soup with lots of greens and just enough sausage to keep Mr. B happy. As he said at dinner, "I think I just ate a lot of vegetables that I don't usually eat - and i liked it!"
