Here on the Canadian Prairies, it’s pretty darn frigid by most standards. Every winter, in order to keep from being perpetually cold, I have to sip or hold something hot in almost every waking hour.
I’ll tell you, this situation has vastly improved since I started including a good deal more health fats and probiotic foods, but winter still doesn’t make the cut as my favourite season.
In the months where snow swirls outside my kitchen window, soups make a frequent appearance on my menu plan. You can stop over on almost any given day to find a huge pot burbling happily on the stove.
I like to take make my meals as nutrient dense as possible so I often layer kale or spinach at the bottom of the bowl before ladling in a piping hot soup (like this Kale and Navy Bean delight that I fell in love with last winter). I love it rewarmed for breakfast.
*Did you know that Navy beans are so-named because of their status as a staple for the US Navy?
Here’s the recipe:
Kale and Navy Bean Soup
- 1 cup of navy beans (soaked overnight)
- 6 cups of chicken or vegetable stock.
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion or leek
- 1 large celery stalk with some leaves
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 1 small bunch kale (or collards)- thick stems removed and chopped
- 2 tsp thyme
- 1 Tbs tamari or Nama Shoyu
- 1-2 tsp sea salt
- pepper to taste
1. Drain and rinse navy beans. Place in a medium sized pot with 6 cups water. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer until tender, about 1.5 hours.
2. In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat and gently fry onion or leek, celery and carrot, until vegetables soften. Add kale and fry a few minutes. *I just put the kale in last minute.
3. Add cooked beans to vegetable mixture along with cooking water, thyme, veg. broth, tamari, salt and pepper.
4. Simmer 15 minutes or so until kale is soft, taste and adjust seasoning.
Dino or Lacinato kale.
*I set aside some of the kale as well as spinach and poured the soup over top of these greens to maintain some of the benefit and integrity of the live enzymes in these greens.
My mom – who owns a restaurant and can be pretty discerning – was in town visiting and loved it as well. In fact, she immediately wanted to to order the cookbook it was adapted from – Enlightened Eating – by Caroline Marie Dupont.