Surprise Soup!

I don't know about you, but since the summer hit, I've been eating unhealthy foods left and right.

It's so easy with someone hosting a BBQ every other day and street fairs offering all sorts of tasty delights.

So on Monday, I forced myself to make a healthy dinner to get some vegetables back into my system.  I definitely needed it and could feel my arteries clogging!

I didn't know what to make though and none of the recipe sites I rely on had anything to offer (I was being picky since I didn't want to make something healthy to begin with).

So after wandering the supermarket like a zombie and staring blankly at the vegetables, I decided to make something up.  Yes, I was going to experiment.  It was a win win since I promised myself that if it came out badly I wouldn't have to eat it. And if it happened to come out tasty, well then I had a healthy meal to eat.

Here is what I started with:

• 1 big box of vegetable stock (no salt added) (I didn't feel like making stock cause I was lazy)
• 2 red large potatoes
• 2 small onions
• 2 nice sized carrots
• 1 lovely bunch of kale
• 1 small can of corn
• 1 large can of cannellini beans (white kidney beans)

That's it.  I was attempting to make a really simple soup out of random items that looked good in the super market.

I started by chopping and sauteing the onions in a large pot.  I cooked them on super low, to ensure they didn't burn.  Plus this gave me time to peel and chop the other veggies.  I peeled and sliced my carrots into "half moons," I peeled and cut the potatoes into small half inch cubes and then shredded the kale.  I did this by combining a number of leaves on top of each other, then rolling them (along the stem) so it makes almost like a sushi roll (this is how I imagined it anyway), then very thinly slicing it.  It's super easy and there was a ton of it, to ensure I was getting a lot of goodness in my soup.

After the onions were translucent, I added the stock, brought this to a simmer and then threw in the potatoes and carrots.  After a while I threw in the beans too.  Once the potatoes were cooked, which was about 30 minutes, I took a cup of the veggies and blended it with my hand blender to make a puree, which I then added back to the soup.  I wanted a creamy texture.  I then added a few cups of water to thin it out and added the corn and kale.

I let everything simmer for about 15 minutes, until it was done.  The only spices I added was salt and white pepper.  I was afraid to try the soup since it was way too easy to make... perhaps it wasn't good.

Adam came home hungry and wanted a bowl right away.  So I gave him a bowl and he instantly loved it... so I had a bowl with 2 slices of 7-grain toast. 

And guess what, it was great!!

I really wouldn't change a thing about it and would easily make this again,as it was super easy and fast (for a soup).

I had this for lunch two days in a row now and its still so good.

Here's a close-up of the veggies...