Soup, please

I forgot to mention in my introduction post that I am a complete "foody". (or am I a foodie? I'm not sure how it's spelled!)

Point is, there's only two soup recipes here! I'll work on changing that. We're coming into the season of Soup. Nothing's better on a cold evening than warm soup. And, soup is often a very frugal meal.

I'll start with one I made last week, Portugese Kale Soup

1 lb sausage or ground pork
1/2 lb Kale (1+ bunches)
6-8 C chicken stock (low salt or home-made)
8 small potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 tsp salt (optional)
fresh ground pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 C heavy cream

Brown the sausage and drain if needed. Wash and slice Kale. Remove 'ribs' from kale and slice as thinly as possible. (It will look like a huge quantity, but it cooks down.) Cook potatoes in stock until tender, mash. Add sausage, salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes. Add heavy cream, and stir. Add Kale just a few minutes prior to serving.

* you can cook the sausage and boil the potatoes in the same pot, if you don't mind mashing the potatoes around the sausage. *

This soup is similar to the "Zuppa Tuscana" at Olive Garden.

---------- Post added at 09:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:27 PM ----------

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash, peeled and roasted
Roasted garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 carrot, 1/2 onion, 1 rib celery, 1-2 shallots
salt, pepper, 1/2 teas.cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg
4 C Chicken Stock
1/2 C Whole milk
1 small container Plain yogurt (a substitution for whipping cream)

To roast the squash, peel, seed and quarter. cover with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, cinnamonand nutmeg. Roast in a 350 oven and bake about 50 minutes. At the same time, you can roast the Garlic--Cut the top off a head of garlic, cover with olive oil and salt, and roast. It'll turn out mushy, which is just what you're looking for this time.

Saute the onion, celery, carrot, shallot in olive oil in large saucepan. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Add the squash into the soup ( it works best if you puree the squash in a blender or food processor before adding it back to the soup).

Add in milk and yougut, puree soup with emersion blender or food processor until smooth.

I like to add croutons and freshly grated parmesean cheese on top. You can also add a bit of maple syrup (real stuff) into the soup for a hint of sweetness.