Italian Sausage and Kale Soup

It's going to be hot again next week, but for the last few days it's been in the upper 70s and on Monday night it rained! Fall is coming...my favorite time of year. The sound of the rain on the barn roof was soothing, which was a good thing since I'm still having a reaction to the vaccines taken on Friday. Almost normal today, but have had a headache since Friday, which I'm not equipped to handle well since I rarely have headaches. Anyway, the rain was a lovely thing to hear Monday evening and it also rained on Tuesday in the wee hours, so I didn't need to water my garden.

Today I celebrated the slightly cooler weather by making soup. I love soup, but don't often think to make it. It's pretty easy once you round up the ingredients and this one includes some of those veggies I've been growing in the garden. The amounts are pretty variable, depending on how much you have of things, particularly the veggies. You can use the amount that seems right to you. No veggie garden? You can, of course, use veggies from the farmers market or regular grocery store and celebrate the coming season. I like this way better than putting up Halloween decorations in September!

Italian Sausage and Kale Soup (with lots of other veggies)
Makes a big pot

1/2 - 1 pound Italian Sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
2 cans (about 15 oz each) chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 can cannellini (white) beans, rinsed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 - 1 cup fresh tomatoes, cored and diced
1/2 - 1 cup zucchini, quartered, then sliced 1/2-inch thick slices
1 - 2 cups fresh green beans, snapped into bite sized pieces
2 - 3 cups fresh kale

In a large heavy bottomed pot, brown the Italian sausage in the olive oil. My sausage came as a slab, so I used a spatula to divide it into large chunks and browned them so they were almost like meatballs, but you can break yours up to be smaller if you like. Once browned, remove the sausage as set aside.

If needed, add a little more olive oil, but you may find, as I did, that the sausage gave off enough fat to cook the veggies. Cook the onions over medium-high heat, stirring often, until almost translucent about 3-4 minutes. Add the celery, carrots and garlic and continue cooking another minute or two, making sure not to burn the garlic. Add the cup of water and stir to loosen any brown bits. Add the broth, beans, pepper, oregano and add the sausage back to the pot. Stir to combine and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, green beans and kale and stir to combine with the rest of the ingredients in the pot. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for at least 15 minutes and up to an hour.

Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed. Ladle into soup bowls and serve hot. May be garnished with grated Parmesan cheese if desired.