Kale & White Bean Soup with Croutons

I hope I don’t give the false impression that my kids eat everything. They most certainly do not. As a matter of fact, preschool pick up yesterday reminded me of this fact. The question of the day was “There are pea shoot growing in our garden. Will you try one?” and I noticed Dylan placed his name tag in the very sparsely populated “No”column. I smiled seeing this.

Our kids have tastes all their own and it’s fun to see what they like. Recently, Gray dove for a spicy pork taco (literally dove and completely enjoyed it) while Dylan has never had a bite of pork in his 4 years. No interest. Of course, I want to make sure they are both eating a balanced diet so I’ve found ways to make food work for them. For example soup – total winner at our house. They will both eat most any soup if the vegetables are chopped very small. Right. So, I’ve come to depend on the food processor to do the soup chopping for me. It’s a great tool to whiz up onion, carrot, greens, broccoli, cauliflower, or whatever before sauteing it in the soup pot.

KALE & WHITE BEAN SOUP WITH CROUTONS
Inspired by The Fresh and Green Table
serves 4

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion
1 carrot
2 garlic cloves
2 bunches kale, stemmed
3 cups chicken stock (sub vegetable if you’d like)
1 (15-ounce) can white beans
2 lemons
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups of of 1″ bread cubes
salt and pepper

1. First whiz the onion, carrot, and garlic in a food processor until it is finely chopped. Remove and whiz the kale leaves until they are a size you like.

2. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion/carrot/garlic mixture and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cover and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Uncover and let the vegetables brown up. This usually takes another 5 minutes.

3. Add the kale, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Stir around for a couple of minutes then add in the stock and 2 cups of water. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Add the beans and the juice of 1 lemon. Turn off heat and taste for salt, pepper, and lemon – add more if you like.

4. While the soup cooks make the croutons. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Toss in the bread cubes and sprinkle with salt. When they crisp up on one side, toss again and allow to crisp up a second time.

5. Serve soup with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, lemon wedge, and croutons.