Healthy Bean Soup With Kale - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 cups raw kale, chopped (be sure to remove the spiny sections, there won't be many, but those that remain will be tough)
4 cups chicken broth or 4 cups vegetable broth, divided
2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans or (15 ounce) cans navy beans, undrained, split
2 (15 ounce) cans sliced carrots, undrained
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons Italian herb seasoning
salt and pepper
1 cup chopped parsley
shredded parmesan cheese

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil.
Add garlic and onion; saute until soft and the onion is transparent.
Wash the kale, leaving small droplets of water. Saute, stirring, until wilted and a lovely emerald green, about 15 minutes.
Add 3 cups of the broth, reserving 1 cup, 2 cups of the beans, reserving 1 cup, all of the carrots, tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper.
Simmer 5 minutes.
In a blender or food processor, mix the reserved beans and broth until smooth.
Stir into the soup to thicken it nicely.
Simmer 15 more minutes.
Ladle into bowls; sprinkle with chopped parsley and shredded parmesan.
Serve with a nice loaf of crusty bread to soak up all the yummy broth!
For Vegetarian use the vegetable broth.