sausage, kale, and white bean soup

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sausage, kale, and white bean soup

some things you should know about this soup:
- it’s salty and bright and robust and hearty and feels like it took 8+ hours of simmering to achieve it’s stunning flavor; truly an absolute knockout. double points for delight if you pinch a bit of lemon and parmesan over top for an extra salty pucker (re: you should.)
- you are on a one-woman crusade to convince yourself that you do in fact love the winter even though you are also wondering if this will be the year you inevitably become a human popsicle.
- it’s the kind of thing you should whip up when you’ve already decided it’s a ‘sweatpants kind of night’ at 9am.
- it’s also the kind of thing you make when you love yourself and understand that sometimes self-care comes in the form of a hot, sausage kale-y soup-y hug from the inside out.
- you will like it so much, i promise, because it’s just so GOOD.

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sausage, kale, and white bean soup
makes 4 servings
prep time: 10 miutes
cook time: 30 minutes

1 onion, diced
3 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 chicken sausages, sliced ( i like trader joe’s spicy italian for this)*
4c chicken stock ( water works here too)
1 15oz can of fired roasted tomatoes
1 15oz can of white beans, rinsed and drained
1 bushel of kale, stems removed and leaves torn into small pieces
1tbsp olive oil
2tsp salt
2tsp black pepper
1tsp oregano
juice and zest of 1 lemon
* if you are vegan/vegetarian, you can definitely skip the sausage and substitute another kind of bean, and swap in vegetable stock!

in a large pot, warm the olive oil over medium high heat. add the onion, carrot, and celery, and sauce for 5 minutes or until the onion becomes fragrant. then, add the sausage and garlic, and spices, and sauce for another 5 minutes until the sausage starts to become a tiny bit crispy on the edges.

add the stock and tomatoes into the pot and lower the heat to medium. let the soup simmer for 15 minutes, and then add the beans, kale, and lemon juice. simmer for another 5 minutes, and then top with lemon zest before serving.