Originally Posted by Jess – August 25, 2015
Hi, everyone! Jess here. Today was filled with bingo games, swimming, board games, movies, dancing in the rain arts & crafts and, of course, dinner with good friends!
The title of this post is a little misleading. This meal was supposed to be comprised completely from Springdell ingredients. It almost was, except when I started making dinner, I realized I forgot one key ingredient back in my freezer in Massachusetts – my Springdell sausage! Given this was supposed to be a sausage soup, I was in a bit of a panic and prepping to make a trip to the local grocery store when my good friend Sarah came to the rescue. She happened to have an extra package of sausage handy! What luck!
I chopped about 6 small gold potatoes and a couple of Springdell onions (about 1 cup chopped). The onions went into a soup pot with a bit of Amish Roll Butter and 4-6 gloves of minced garlic.
I cooked them on medium heat until the garlic was fragrant and the onions were softened but not browned.
Next I stirred in 5 cups of frozen Springdell chicken stock. One of the cubes (the greenish one) was from Parsleyfest, already equipped with fresh parsley that was frozen into a cup of chicken stock.
It’s a little hard to see, but the parsley looks completely fresh as it melts out of the block of stock that it was frozen in. (Check on the Parsleyfestpost for more info on doing this at home!)
I simmered these ingredients until the potatoes were tender, maybe 10-15 minutes. I had actually done all this the night before to allow the potatoes to absorb the flavors in the fridge overnight.
The next day, I reheated the soup to a low simmer and added a full bunch of lacinato kale, cut into thin strips. The sweet Italian sausages were halved lengthwise before also adding them to the soup (note, these sausages were fully cooked, and should be before adding to the soup). This all simmered until the kale was tender, about 20 minutes.
The verdict? Everyone loved it and cleaned their bowls (and there are even a few non-kale folks in the group!) We had some tender blanched green beans and fresh slicing cucumbers on the side. A good crusty bread would be lovely with this soup for sure.
For dessert, we enjoyed freshly frozen cantaloupe pops with Springdell honey. For a creamier version, try adding milk, cream, or coconut milk to your purée!
Aside from the sausage oversight, this meal was start-to-finish Springdell ingredients, and start-to-finish delicious. See you tomorrow at our Honorable Mentions post. Until then, sweet and savory dreams!