****UPDATE***** I'm adding the recipe at the bottom so I can participate in the fun over at Kelly’s Korner. I'm not much of a measurer, but I'll give it my best guess. Happy Cooking!
My new sister-in-law is, (how shall we say)........... Green. She's sailed all over the world, lived in Central America, New Zealand and is now working on a coffee farm in Hawaii. Yes, we are going to visit. Soon. She's a vegetarian and is a very good cook. For a wedding gift, she gave us an annual subscription to a local CSA, which I just recently discovered stands for Community Sustainable Agriculture. We just call it Green Man Farm. Every Saturday, we go down to the Farmer's Market and pick up our weekly share of vegetables.
I didn't really know what to think of it at first, but thought it would be cool. Then the first week came. In our share, we got some greens that looked like, I kid you not, clover. Turns out they're pea greens. And they're quite tasty in soup. And it only got better from there. We had the tastiest broccoli I have ever eaten. We also got kale, which I had never tried before. Since I didn't know what to do with it, I googled kale recipes and mostly found soup. Some looked OK, but they weren't exactly what I wanted, so I modified. And came up with one of the best soups I have ever eaten. I felt like Giada De Laurentiis cooking in the kitchen.
Everything here except the broth, hot sauce, pasta and beans came from the CSA or my garden.
A little tour of what it looked like while cooking.
1 tablespoon olive oil
Chop all ingredients ( I usually do it as I go along) Heat olive oil in large stock pot. Saute garlic & kale until very wilted. Add leeks, saute until soft. Add potatoes and carrots and saute until crisp. Add ham, tomato and beans, saute until warm. Add chicken broth, bring to a boil. Once boiling add pasta and hot sauce. Turn heat to warm or low and cover. Let smirrer for about an hour. Serve.
Sounds great.....Love your blog...Had a free night to blog hop. Hope you will stop by new Christmas blog ...There is a great giveaway that I will draw for on Oct 1st and all you need to do to enter is comment. http://grammyababychangeseverything.blogspot.com