Food
Shrimp, Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup Recipe
I’ve been on a soup kick lately because it is such a great way to add veggies in to my food. Not that I don’t normally eat veggies, but I just don’t get creative with how they are prepared so I tend to get bored.
Yesterday and today, I searched Pinterest looking for some kind of Shrimp soup recipe but I just wasn’t feeling it. Plus, as I have said before, I do not like buying ingredients that I will probably only use once. So, knowing that I had to stock up on certain food anyways, I decided to come up with my own little concoction, while still being healthy.
The great thing about this is that you can make it Keto by leaving out the potatoes and adding additional meat. OR, you can add more seafood to make it more of a seafood chowder. OR, you could leave out the sausage and seafood, add more veggies, and have it that way. The great thing is, this is a pretty versatile base.
Since I prefer when trying new things to have step by step instructions, that’s what you will find here. But, if you prefer to just skip to the ingredients and do it your way, just scroll on down to the bottom.
Green pepper, red pepper, onion, celery, and garlic. Here’s the thing, while I love the flavoring of the green & red peppers, and onion, I HATE biting in to them. Something about the texture… I don’t know. So, I diced them up even finer than this. You do it how you like.
I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, “I love Pampered Chef!” Their manual food processor makes it super easy to get the veggies just the right size. You can use a regular food processor, also, but I don’t have easy to get to outlets so this one comes in super handy. No, I am not being paid for that statement nor do I receive any kickbacks from it.
***Use a nice sized pot with your temperature at Medium Low. After each step, cover. It will help to keep the temp in and slowly meld all of the flavors together.
While your veggies are slowly sauteing, dice your potatoes in to bite size pieces. Remember, they will get mushy when cooked so you don’t want them TOO small.
Break up your Italian Sausage and throw it in. I used Butterball Sweet Italian Turkey sausage to keep it healthy. Now comes the part with kale… Some people like it, some people don’t. I really don’t notice the taste of it when mixed with other things. So, if you don’t want kale, use spinach. The point is to make the most out of getting as many veggies in as possible.
Kale has a tendency to shrink when cooked. So, the recipe calls for two cups, that means FIRMLY PACKED. Get as much kale as you can in to that measuring cup. Now, put all of that kale back on to your chopping board and chop away! Mix it in to what you already have and this is what it should look like, everything sauteing and steaming nicely.
My kitchen was smelling quite nice by this point! One of the benefits to making this soup is that it is easy enough to make, but you feel like you are actually doing something and creating your own personal dish. I had a podcast going and was just chopping away, feeling awfully relaxed.
Let’s talk seasoning. This is when you make it your own and add whatever you have in your house. I added in a teaspoon each of these, plus sea salt and black pepper. Oh! And four rosemary leaves.
Now, the liquid… I used the low sodium chicken broth and vanilla flavored almond milk. Why use low sodium broth when you are adding in sea salt? Great question! Because I can add salt, but I can’t take it away. Make sense? Regarding milk, if you want to use normal milk, go for it! I can’t use regular milk (lactose intolerant issues, good times!) and I really like the flavor that the vanilla almond milk adds to things.
My personal opinion, let this simmer for awhile. Remember, you want to make sure that your potatoes and sausage are cooked through. Plus, the seasonings need time to meld together. (I sound like an expert here, huh? haha)
Shrimp. I could eat it every day. LOVE IT! Now, I bought two bags of the frozen large shrimp (raw, tail off, deveined), and let them thaw. Not to when warm, just that they weren’t frozen like a rock. Then I rinsed them. Why? Because I didn’t want to add too much of the seafood “juice” to the flavor and take away from the other spices. I then cut them up in to bite size pieces. Yes,I could have bought small or medium shrimp and may not have had to do that, but they were out at the store.
Pour the shrimp in, stir, cover, and go do something else. Let it slowly simmer for however long you want to, just make sure the shrimp is cooked when you pour yourself a bowl. Shrimp is cooked when it pinkens.
Based on the ingredients I used and the calorie counter, all of this comes in at 2,541 calories. Since you’re not eating all of this in one seating (but it is good enough that you will want to), and it measures approximately 10 cups, it is only 254 calories. But, if you’re like me, you poured 2 cups and called it a good meal!
This soup is hearty enough for a cold winter day, but doesn’t feel so heavy as to make you feel blah on a hot day, thanks to the shrimp.
For a list of ingredients and quick instructions, HERE.
Enjoy!
