Friday, January 10, 2014

Make this now- Hearty & Healthy

In my opinion, finding a meal that's good for you and actually tastes delicious is no easy feat. I was doing some searching on Pinterest for a soup that incorporated dark leafy greens and a lean protein without any refined carbs. I found a few recipes that sounded pretty good and kind of did a combination of them (mainly this one).

Tanner's nap time is when I make dinner. So, whatever our meal is, it has to be relatively quick and easy to prepare. This soup definitely was just that. I had my sister and dad over for dinner last night and everyone really enjoyed it (even Tanner)!

 

Italian (Chicken) Sausage with Kale and White Bean Soup

1lb Italian Sausage taken out of casings and chopped/crumbled

1 large bunch of kale

1-2 12 oz cans canellini or great northern beans (depending on your preference)

1 medium onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

5 cups chicken broth

1. Chop onion and garlic. Add olive oil to the pot and cook until onion gets soft/becomes translucent.

2. Add sausage and brown until it's cooked all the way through. Drain excess oil after sausage is cooked.

3. Add kale, beans, and broth. Cook approx. 15 minutes until kale has wilted/reduced.

 

I let the soup simmer for about 30 more minutes and it really helped the flavors blend.

Mark asked that we don't have guests next time I make it so he can have more for himself :)

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Holidays

The last few weeks have been super busy. We had a great Christmas and New Years! I feel relieved now that all the traveling is over though. We drove to Asheville after Christmas to spend time with Mark's family and then headed to Charleston from there for a wedding weekend.

It was so fun going back to Charleston- we visited some of our old haunts (Taco Boy, Poogan's Porch) and checked out some new places as well (Bay Street Biergarten and The Alley- we loved both!). We also stopped by our old neighborhood and saw our friends and took a stroll down to the dock where Mark proposed and we took many a walk when Tanner was a tiny babe. It was a great weekend!

And now we are being welcomed back to the Midwest by this:

Yes that's NEGATIVE 5 degrees. I mean, I just can't..........