Dinner Soup

I was out in Seattle visiting my dear friend Kelly when she made this yummy and sustaining soup for dinner. I thought, "Wow this is yummy and it might fly at my dinner table - there is something for everyone!" So yesterday, with pounds of collard greens, tatsoi, bok choy and spinach from the first CSA pick-up of the year I decided to give this soup a try... and it worked! I served it with some good quality bread (in Seattle we had the very best sourdough rosemary, but I couldn't get my hands on that here in Boston so I bought a well made baguette).

Don't feel like you have to follow this recipe exactly - soup is not that precise, after all and you should put in what you have and not worry too much about it. The key here is the brown sugar, cider vinegar and mustard that give it a very distinctive flavor. And by all means use greens - lots of them. My kids didn't actually eat them (of course not), but they did sip the broth and soak it up in their bread and I'm telling myself that the nutrients from the load of veggies I put in there got into their little bodies that way.

Kelly's Dinner Soup
---------------

1 Turkey Kielbasa cut into half moons (or 1/2 a Kielbasa and 1/2 pound cubed thick cut ham)
2 medium onions, chopped (yellow or sweet work fine)
2 medium carrots, diced
1 tablespooon olive oil
1-2 pounds roughly chopped greens (collard greens and kale for long cooking, spinach and tatsoi go in at the last minute)
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup brown sugar (or to taste)
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (or to taste)
2 tablespoons spicy mustard (I used dijon, but a good quality deli mustard or a whole grain mustard would work too)
16 ounces roughly chopped tomatoes (canned are fine)
1 can pinto beans rinsed
1/2 pound cooked elbow macaroni
2 quarts low salt chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

1.In a large soup pot or dutch oven, saute onions and carrots until onions are soft (about five minutes). Add in meat and saute for another minute or two. Add in greens and cook until the greens have wilted down to a more manageable size. Add brown sugar, vinegar and mustard and mix.

2. Add tomatoes and broth and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer gently for at least an hour (if you are using kale and collard greens they will be tastier and easier to digest if they simmer for that long).

3. Right before serving add pinto beans and macaroni.

Serve with bread