The Lemonade Stand is where we meet to share our from our hearts, inspire each other to enjoy the simple pleasures in life, and gather as a community to celebrate the bright side of life.

Tortellini, White Bean & Kale Soup by Miss Lindsey

For me, good food, good drinks and good company are key to living on The Bright Side. Whether it’s cooking something up for a house full of people or making a quiet dinner for myself and my fiancé, there is something so fulfilling about a home cooked meal. Even after the most hectic of days I find it calming and centering to sit down to something healthy and good that I made myself. But, let’s be realistic, I have a day job, I love to work on this fantastic blog and I am about to embark on a 40 day yoga challenge which means finding the time to cook is tough. My solution is to take a day every few weeks and cook up a large batch of soup that I can freeze and pull out when I need to. This is one of my favorites, it’s hearty and healthy and a sneaky way to get people to eat kale who might rather avoid it.
This recipe is based on one by Anastasia Davies Hinchsliff in the Soup & Bread Cookbook – if you are a soup lover like me I highly recommend you pick this up! I’ve adapted the recipe slightly for my tastes – specifically I used a bit less onion and left out the kielbasa – the tortellini, beans and kale seemed to make it hearty enough.

What you’ll need:

1 pound dried white beans (I used Great Northern)
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 cups of chicken broth
8 cups of water
2 teaspoons salt
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
8 carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into ½ inch pieces
1 bunch of kale, leaves coarsely chopped (discard the stems and ribs)
1 pound dried cheese tortellini
Salt and pepper to taste
Please note that this recipe offers 8 hearty servings, I doubled it to have extra to freeze and it was a giant pot of soup!

Start this recipe early in the day if you plan to eat tonight as the beans need to soak for one hour before you start making the soup. Put the beans in your soup pot, cover with 2 inches of water. Bring the whole thing a boil, remove from heat and let sit for one hour. When time is up, drain and rinse the beans.

As I’ve mentioned I’m a huge mise en place fan. Cooking is just easier when you have everything you need chopped and ready to go ahead of time. While the beans are soaking, chop the onions, garlic, carrots, rosemary and kale. The pile of kale you’ll end up with might seem like a lot, but it will cook down so throw it all in.

With your ingredients ready to go, put the onions in the pot with the olive oil and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring for about a minute. Add in the beans, broth, 4 cups of the water, salt, pepper, bay leaf and rosemary and simmer uncovered until the beans are just tender – 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Stir in carrots and simmer for 5 to 10 more minutes until tender. Add in kale, tortellini and last 4 cups of water, simmer until the tortellini is cooked about 15 minutes. Now enjoy!!

We’d love to hear if you decide to try this out. What twists do you add to make it your own?