I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said, “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends with them?”
Although we love black beans, pintos, garbanzos, and lentils, white beans aren’t exactly our favorite. I consider that an invitation – a challenge – to try to find a way to make friends with those little white villains.
Usually this involves pureeing or otherwise hiding the offending food. However, this project was surprisingly easy. Put the beans in a great tasting soup and voila! We devoured them.
Eat Your Greens
This recipe is also a super way to eat greens, which, by the way are an excellent source of bone-building calcium. Oust the milk with only 237 mg of calcium per 100 calories and bring on the greens at 459 (!) mg per 100 calories.
Wow! What a tasty way to build those bones!
Weight Loss Tip:
You probably already knew this, but with all the fiber and veggies in this soup, of course it’s a good weight loss food. Help yourself to seconds!
Packed Lunch Tip:
Put some hot Savory Bean and Kale Soup in a warmed thermos to take with you to work or school for a delicious and filling lunch.
Savory Bean and Kale Soup
Kale provides more nutrition per calorie than just about any other food. This leafy vegetable is an super source of calcium, vitamin A, iron, fiber, vitamin K, and more!
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes
- 3 cups water, stock, or broth
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons granulated onion
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
- pinch dried sage
- 5 cups coarsely chopped raw kale
- 2 1/2 cups cooked Great Northern beans, drained
- 1 teaspoon salt, scant
Instructions
- In a large pot, over medium (not high) heat, sauté onions in oil for one minute. Add garlic and sauté for an additional minute.
- Add tomatoes, water (or stock or broth), and seasonings. Cover, increase heat to high, and bring to boil.
- Meanwhile, prepare kale.
- When soup comes to a boil, stir in kale. Boil uncovered for one minute, and then reduce heat to a low boil. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until kale is tender (about 15 minutes).
- Stir in beans and simmer until thoroughly heated. Season with salt to taste.
Serve hot.
Notes
When purchasing kale or picking it from your garden, choose the smaller leaves as they are more tender and often sweeter than the larger leaves.
Hands down, this recipe is so good that it goes in the tried and true book of recipes!! I will be doing this on a regular basis. The white beans and kale combination is a winner. My husband says that when he thinks of your website he connects it to good food.
Aw, thank you, Margaret! So glad you like it!
We’re really enjoying kale this time of year. 🙂
This looks amazing!!
Do you know the serving size for 100 calories?
Hi Hannah,
Thank you for your comment.
As a weight loss consultant, my focus is to encourage people to eat whole, natural, unprocessed foods, and I tend to steer away from calorie counting. Almost all of my recipes fit in my weight loss program, and one of the benefits of the program is there’s no need to count calories or take too much time with nutrition labels.
You can read more about why I don’t have nutrition information for my recipes here …
and a little bit about
my thoughts on calorie counting here.
Sorry I don’t have the information you’re looking for, but I hope the info at the links above is helpful.
And I hope you enjoy the soup! 🙂
Jennifer