Clean out the fridge soup

The other day was the day that we pick up a fresh load of (free!) veggies from a local farm, which means that we have to make room for them. How? By eating last week's veggies of course! Our freezer is packed with peppers and kale, and the vegetable crisper had some hot peppers and leeks going mushy. Plus, there was a surplus of potatoes. So I figured I'd just throw it all in a pot and see what happened. The result? Potato and leek soup crossed with kale soup! YUMMMMMMY!

This actually tasted like kale soup, and I think it's a good substitute for vegetarian/vegan crowd. Since kale soup has sausage in it, that's obviously out. However, the potato added a similar texture (biting into something that isn't kale) and the hot pepper added the spice round in the hot Italian sausage we usually get. Curious? Here's the recipe!

Clean out the Fridge Soup (Vegetarian Kale soup)

Olive oil

Kale: not just an alien, it's an amazing leafy green!

1-2 stalks leeks (or one large onion), chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 hot pepper, chopped into small-ish pieces
2 bell peppers, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2-3 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can red kidney beans
1 Tbsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1-1 1/2 cups loosely chopped kale

Coat the bottom of a soup pot with olive oil and heat. Add leeks (or onions, if using) and cook until soft, then add garlic. Let cook 1-2 minutes until the garlic starts to cook a little, then add the hot and bell pepper. Cook until slightly soft and add potato, kidney beans, basil, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Pour in enough water to cover the vegetables by a half inch. Let soup simmer until potatoes are almost done and add kale. When potatoes are tender, serve it up and enjoy!

-------------------

This is sort of a hodgepodge soup recipe, however it had a striking resemblance to kale soup when we ate it. I supposed if you wanted to, you could substitute chicken or vegetable stock for the water if you wanted a little extra flavor, but I thought it was just fine on its own. If you want it less spicy you can use less chili powder, or if you wanted it spicier you could even add another hot pepper (for the original, we used one and a half to get them out of the crisper). All in all, this soup was hot, tasty, and perfect for the cooling October weather. Plus, it was super easy.

(image from here)