Let There Be Light

This year for Christmas I got the best present I never knew I needed. A very very fancy camera flash. Before the flash I thought everyone took thirty photos in an attempt to get two clear ones. I also thought maybe I just had a really fast baby. 

Tonight we settled in for our first winter blizzard of the year and pulled out the flash (it took me this long and two trips to the mall to realize that I already had batteries that would fit). Love it! Love it! Love it!

Also tonight, we had soup. With the weather about to turn cold and white and with Rob battling a nasty bug it seemed fitting. But it wasn’t just any soup. It was the easiest soup I’ve ever made and it was delicious. 

For me soup is kind of like baking – I think more is always better (more blueberries in the muffins and more curry in the broth) and I am almost always wrong. But this soup? This soup was comfortable with improvisation. I glanced at the recipe a few times and in less than ten minutes we had a crock pot of soon-to-be-supper. 

Sausage with Kale and Potatoes 

1 1/2 bunches kale 

3/4 lb reduced-fat kielbasa or other smoked sausage 

1 large yellow onion, chopped 

1 clove garlic, minced 

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch 

2 cups homemade or low-sodium canned chicken broth 

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 

1 tsp salt (optional) 

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 

1 large can of whole tomatoes with liquid 

Pour chicken stock and tomatoes in crock pot. I used diced tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes because we had them in the fridge (see what I mean about it being comfortable with improvisations). I also added a half a cup of salsa for a little extra flavour. 

I steamed the potatoes a bit (until they were about half way cooked since I wasn’t sure if they’d have enough time to cook all the way through in the soup) and added them to the crock pot. We had some sausages in the freezer left over from the summer so I thawed and cut up and added three of these. It was the perfect amount and even though they weren’t smoked or kielbasa they were delicious. I sautéed the garlic and onion and added these to the crock pot too before setting it to high and leaving it to simmer for about three hours. 

Just before serving I diced up a bunch of red swiss chard and tossed that in. I’m not sure if I like kale because I can never find it at the grocery store but I do know that I love love love swiss chard. I forgot to add the salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar altogether. Oops.

The original recipe is from a great site by nutritionist Leslie Beck that has hundreds of mouth-watering and healthy recipes: www.lesliebeck.com (under the Healthy Cooking tab).