Bean & Sausage Soup

Blog FAIL this past week. :(

Not only did I not post more than once (my goal was twice a week), but I made a blog-worthy dinner and completely, utterly forgot to take pictures. Well, it's not so much that I forgot. More that I was a bit busy, late, and overwhelmed on Thursday and almost didn't even get the buffaloaf (buffalo meatloaf) made by a reasonable time, so taking pictures just...fell by the wayside. Until dinner was made and already eaten, and then I suddenly remembered. Oops.

I'll make my buffaloaf again this week and remember to take pictures and post about it, I promise. It will be worth the wait--it's a healthy version of a yummy comfort food (with lots of veggies hidden in it).

In the meantime, here is a delicious soup recipe I tried out last night: Bean and Sausage Soup. The original recipe is from Recipe Girl, and I pretty much followed the recipe completely. Well, mostly. I screwed up and forgot to put the baby spinach in the soup. Until after it was done and already eaten. Oops. I kinda suck at remembering things these days, I guess.

Not all is lost, though. The soup was a big hit with Ben and my mom, even sans spinach (I sent the leftovers home with mom because she liked it so much--and she doesn't like "healthy" food!), so they weren't sad when I told them I will be making the soup again this week so I can use up the spinach I bought. I suppose I could just make a spinach salad instead, but...meh. I'd rather have the soup again. ;)

Anyway, this soup is excellent--and very filling--while it really doesn't taste "healthy." Enjoy!

Bean & Sausage Soup


Ingredients
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup chopped sweet onion
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
7 ounces turkey kielbasa halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch pieces*
4 cups fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth (I use Kitchen Basics Unsalted)
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Two 15.8-ounce cans Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
One 6-ounce bag fresh baby spinach leaves

*I used Hillshire Farm Lite Polska Kielbasa. It is made primarily with turkey, but with some pork/beef added in. It didn't even taste like turkey sausage! Yum. Also, the other option was a different Hillshire Farm turkey kielbasa that listed "mechanically separated turkey" as an ingredient (ick!) and lots of additives and preservatives (including corn syrup), and the calorie count was almost the same.

Heat a large pot to medium-high heat. Add carrots, onion and garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the kielbasa and sauté for 3 additional minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium; cook 5 minutes.
 
Add the broth, seasonings and beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Place 1-2 cups of the soup in a food processor or blender--be careful, as it will be hot! Process until smooth, then return the pureed mixture to the pan. Simmer the soup an additional 5 minutes.








Remove the soup from heat and mix in the fresh spinach (this is where I screwed up and forgot the spinach. Don't make my mistake!)

Serve hot, preferably with a slice of crusty bread!

For the calorie counters: one serving is about 1 and 1/4 cups of soup. According to my calculations on livestrong.com, each serving is about 236 calories. This soup is light on calories, but very filling and full of flavor!