Kale-Potato Soup with Bacon
In addition to my overall undying love for Food Network Magazine, the biggest reason I try out so many FoodNetMag recipes is to find more foods that my kid will eat well.
My middle daughter in particular is incredibly picky. I have long suspected that she might secretly be French–she could live a long, happy life eating nothing but bread, cheese, and chocolate.
Fruits and veggies? Not so much. Or at all.
But a few years ago I was menu planning out of the Jan/Feb 2015 FoodNetMag, which sports this soup on the cover. My picky daughter pointed to it and said, “Ooooooh, can we have this for dinner one night? That looks so good!”
How on earth could I say no to that?!
She was right: it is a really good soup on its own, and the toppings (crispy bacon, smoked almonds, kale chips, sour cream) add such perfect smoky-salty-creaminess. Our whole family loved it, but most importantly, Miss Picky loved it!
My daughter has since claimed it as *her* green soup, and even reminds me to buy kale (what child does that?!) so that I can make the soup and kale chips. Mom win FOR SURE.
Interestingly, the first time I met Maile Carpenter, the editor-in-chief of Food Network Magazine, she asked me what my all-time favorite Magazine recipe was and as I started raving about how much we had loved this kale soup and how thankful I was that it had been on the cover for my daughter to see, she burst out laughing.
Apparently putting the kale soup on the magazine cover was Ms. Carpenter’s idea, and she had to fight all of the other editors telling her not to. She reasoned that it was the first issue of a new year, and that everyone would be fresh into their healthier resolutions and so excited about a healthy, delicious kale soup.
As it turned out, she was wrong. Apparently even when people resolve to eat healthier they still don’t want to look at healthy food! The Jan/Feb 2015 kale soup cover remains one of the worst-selling issues the magazine has ever put out, while the May 2015 issue with a single giant, rainbow-sprinkled cupcake on its cover remains one of the best-selling!
At least when it comes to selling magazines, cupcakes > kale soup.
And with only 416 calories per serving, this soup still leaves plenty of room for cupcakes.
If the recipe is followed exactly, the soup does turn out a bit on the thin side. To remedy this, I like to use at least 2 but usually closer to 2 1/2 pounds of potatoes rather than the 1 3/4 pounds called for. Enjoy!
Kale-Potato Soup with Bacon, Food Network Magazine January/February 2015.
