White Bean and Kale Soup
By: Heather Patterson
Published: Friday, February 19, 2010 - 3:56am

Ingredients




1 pound dried white beans
2 Tbs. olive oil
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 large white onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 carrot, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
5 strips of thick bacon coarsely chopped, divided
1/2 Tbs. fresh thyme, finely chopped
1/2 Tbs. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh or dried oregano, finely chopped
8 cups chicken stock or 8 cups water and 8 tsp. chicken bullion
2 cups water
1 large bunch red kale, remove center ribs and stems, leaves chopped
Course Salt 

Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1 Soak beans over night or quick soak for one hour, according to package directions and drain. 2 Heat large Dutch-oven or stockpot to medium-high heat, and add olive oil. 3 When olive oil is heated, add onion, carrot, celery, garlic and 3 slices chopped bacon. 4 Sauté until vegetables are tendering being careful not to burn garlic. 5 Add in tomatoes and simmer for approximately two minutes. 6 Add in drained beans, chicken stock, water, thyme, rosemary and oregano and bring soup to a boil. 7 Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until beans are very tender. 8 Add in kale and simmer for approximately 10-15 minutes until kale is wilted. 9 Season soup with salt and pepper to taste.  (Be careful not to over salt, since soup contains bacon which is naturally salty) Top each bowl with remaining chopped bacon.

About


Cooking frugally is a combination of using fresh in season ingredients, utilizing high quality items you find on sale and being open to trying new things.  In the past I make a decision to cook something and purchased the ingredients with no knowledge of whether my purchases were “seasonal” nor giving any thought to sale items, honestly I didn’t even know when something was a “good price” or not.
Now that I am into month two of my $10 challenge, I have to think differently.  I have to be willing to make substitutes if necessary, I have to know what is in season and therefore the best price, and I have to to expand my horizons with new foods…for example kale.  
This is a perfect time of year to purchase kale.
Since becoming a gardener this past year, I have had to learn what vegetables grown when.  Kale (along with spinach, all varieties of lettuce, cabbage, etc) is a cool weather plant.  That is why you will find leafy vegetables at the best price in winter and early spring.  
I wanted to try my hand at some kale recipes, so I started scouring my various cookbooks and magazines and I noticed a reoccurring theme, kale is very popular in soup.  So, wanting to use up some various sale items I had purchased recently and desiring to give kale a try, I attempted my own version of White Bean and Kale Soup.  Combining several different recipes and adding some of my own touches, for example the canned tomatoes (purchased on sale for .40 a can, so now I have 20 of them lined up in my pantry) and the bacon (purchased on a buy one/get one free sale and begging to be used), this was my end result, and we sure did enjoy it!