White Bean and Kale Soup from Canadian Living

No More Turkey!

How is everyone’s week going? I hope you’ve all come down from the turkey high that follows a holiday like Thanksgiving. I’m sure now that leftovers are dwindling, you’re looking for something to bring you into the weekend, don’t worry – I’ve got you covered with this White Bean and Kale Soup from Canadian Living! (Of course, you should make my Skillet Sausage and Peppers from last week if you haven’t already)

New Recipe Go To

I have recently realized the recipe goldmine that is the Canadian Living website. From what I can see, you can read every recipe that is printed in their magazine, online. This is awesome if you are trying to kick a magazine addiction like I am. (It all started when I was a youngster reading Tiger Beat) Not only that, it’s great because you don’t have to go on Pinterest and browse aimlessly for hours at clothing, vacations and puppies only to realize you meant to find something to cook for dinner.

Shall I get started on this soup then? Most importantly, here is the link to White Bean and Kale Soup from Canadian Living.

The Verdict

First of all, I knew this was what I was going to review this week because 1) I was in the mood for soup and 2) I mentioned the name of it out loud and my aunt said “Mmm”. Sold!

One of the things I noticed upon first glance, was that this soup will be on the table in 30 minutes. I thought, “30 minutes for soup? Tell me more!” so I continued to read, and it definitely struck me as something easy for me to whip up and something I think most people would feel comfortable making – definitely a recipe worth reviewing.

The Process

It was easy enough to chop the salami and add it to the pot, stir occasionally and meanwhile chop the leeks and carrots. While I was cooking the salami, however, it didn’t really leave much grease for the veggies, so I took it upon myself to add a little bit of oil to the pot. Would I have used more than 3 cloves of garlic for this recipe? Yes, probably. Would I have seasoned the veggies with salt and pepper in addition to the garlic as they cooked? Yes, definitely. Confession: I didn’t use any sage. So keep that in mind when further on, I mention that it needed a little more je ne sais quoi.

After adding the chicken broth and water, and bringing the mixture to a boil, I added more water because it really seemed like liquid was lacking. I really only used 900 mL of broth, which isn’t quite 4 cups.

Is Kale Still a Superfood?

I chopped the kale so there weren’t really many big pieces, but I still feel like maybe 6 cups was a bit much. Maybe it felt like that because it wasn’t really seasoned. Regardless, next time I make this soup (there will be a next time), I will use a little less kale and I won’t use sodium reduced chicken broth because I had to add more to the soup anyways. I’ll also be completely honest, the taste of the salami reminded me of hot dogs.. but in the same breath, I wish there was more salami in this soup. Weird, I know. So if you weren’t really sold on the salami.. I still say you should give it a shot!

I don’t recommend adding the lemon juice. For me, it just kind of tasted like .. I don’t even know how to describe it. It just wasn’t pleasant. But I highly recommend adding Parmesan cheese to each serving.

Ready in 30 minutes?

Even though I was able to chop and stir and prep all the while the soup was cooking (there really isn’t any extra prep), this soup took me longer than 30 minutes and I think it should have simmered longer.

This soup works in a pinch and really is full of different flavours and healthful ingredients. Unfortunately, I couldn’t rely on the directions to get a lot of this flavour (lacking in salt) but I definitely recommend trying it out and adjusting tastes to your liking – for example, maybe some cayenne powder or Sriracha would add some nice heat to it. Or let’s face it, the spice that works in everything: parsley.

Please excuse my lack of creativity in the styling department. I just noticed that I used baguette for this soup just like Canadian Living did. That being said, I do recommend eating this soup with a nice fresh baguette!

If you try it out, I would love to know what you thought of it! If you doctored it a little, let me know what you did – I would love to try your way my next time around.

Happy cooking!