Potato Kale Soup

WiGal's Note:

Thought about calling this Kiss the Cook soup, b/c after tasting hubby hugged me and told me how lucky he was to have me. LOL!! Whenever I have a huge amount of kale leftover, I freeze it raw -- chopped--in one quart zip locks for a different day and works great for my next batch of soup. Estimate that 4 cups of kale equals 4 ounces and that one sausage link equals 4 ounces.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 4 cups kale
• 3 slices bacon
• 12 ounces Italian sausage, ground
• 1 large onion, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 large russet potatoes, unpeeled cubed
• 46 ounces chicken stock
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons half-and-half

Directions:

1. Wash and dry kale.
2. Microwave bacon until crisp, set aside until end.
3. In Dutch oven, sauté sausage and onion until sausage is brown, remove grease.
4. Add garlic, potatoes, stock, fennel, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, bring to low boil, cover, and cook until potatoes are done, about 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, remove ribs of kale and chop.
6. Lower burner to low, remove with slotted spoon about 2 cups potatoes, roughly mash with fork, and stir back into pan.
7. Stir in chopped kale, simmer about 4 minutes-- we like kale a bit chewy.
8. Add half and half.
9. Stir in crumbled bacon, serve.
10. NOTE: If freezing, hold off on half and half, add later. You can also put hot soup into bowl and add a tablespoon at a time of the half and half to each bowl. Haven't tried yet in crockpot but assume it would work fine.