Roasted Vegetable and Kale Soup and a Giveaway

In an effort to keep the "scrapers" from stealing my recipes and photos I have changed my blog to show partial posts. I want to say a HUGE thank you to my pal Grace who helped me insert the html code for the partial posts into my blog. Thank you so much Grace!

My son was home from school with a terrible cough and cold. It was a really gloomy, cold and rainy day so I decided to make a big batch of vegetable soup. I found this recipe for Roasted Vegetable and Kale soup from Simply Recipes and decided to give it a try. I adapted the recipe just a bit to work with the ingredients I had on hand. It was really rich in flavor and full of roasted garlic goodness. I loved the flavor of the roasted carrots and butternut squash along with the creamy beans. My kids liked this soup (except for the kale) and I loved it; my husband, on the other hand, wasn't a fan - you can't win them all. I love that it was full of vitamins and minerals and made my sick little guy feel a bit better. I served this soup with a green salad and fresh baked bread. Thanks for another great recipe Elise.

Roasted Vegetable and Kale Soup:

• 3 carrots, peeled and quartered
• 1-2 cups of butternut squash, peeled, seeded cut into chunks
• 4 large tomatoes, quartered
• 1 small sweet yellow onion, sliced into wedges
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 6 cups of vegetable or chicken broth (I used chicken)
• 4 cups of kale, chopped
• 1 can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
• 1 bay leaf

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chop all of the vegetables and place on a baking sheet that has been coated with cooking spray. Drizzle the veggies with olive oil, sea salt, fresh cracked pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of thyme. Mix the vegetables thoroughly. Make sure to place the cloves of garlic on top of the onion wedges or in the tomatoes to prevent from from burning.

Place in the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown and tender.

Place the roasted tomatoes, onions and garlic along with the chicken broth (reserving 1/2 cup) in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Using an immersion blender, mix until thoroughly blended and smooth.

Cut the carrots and butternut squash into bite sized pieces and set aside.

Take the remaining 1/2 cup of chicken broth and pour onto the baking sheet; scrape up all the tasty brown bits from the pan then pour into the soup. Add the kale, bay leaf, remaining 1 teaspoon of thyme and more salt and pepper if needed to the soup. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered until the kale is tender, about 30-45 minutes.

Add the white beans, roasted carrots and butternut squash to the soup. Simmer for about 10 minutes to let the flavors mingle. Discard bay leaf before serving. Enjoy.

Click here for a printable version of this post - For the Love of Cooking.net


GIVEAWAY:

See's Candies is offering one of my readers a gift certificate for $25.00 and it will be delivered in time for Mother's Day. They have some amazing Mother's Day Gifts and candies for sale right now.

All you have to do is leave a comment here, on this post, no later than Thursday by 5:00 p.m. (Pacific time). I'll be announcing the winner this Friday, May 1, 2009. Good luck!