Hello all! I am back! It’s been awhile and I have so many recipes I need to get posted! I have no excuse really. I’m out of work again and should have no problem posting more often. But as we all know the plans we have in our heads don’t always mesh with reality. But here we go with a new recipe. I adapted it from a recipe on the Betty Crocker site. If you want the original check out Southwestern Pork Soup.

This soup came about because about a month or so ago I had bought this really inexpensive Boston Pork Butt Roast. It was a pretty big roast to begin with, I think 5 or 6 pounds. And with only two people in my house we had lots of leftovers. (I will post the recipe for that in the near future also) We ate the pork a couple of times the same week, then I decided to freeze the rest before it was lost forever. I think we got about 5 or 6 uses out of it! Well this week I decided I wanted to use up the rest of what I had in the freezer so I searched for any recipe with leftover pork. I would say 90% of the recipes I found were some kind of pulled pork. Not a fan. So I kept looking till I found the soup recipe. And voilà! I created my own version of a delicious hearty soup! I put kale in this soup also. That is another story! Let’s just say trying to make ‘kale chips’ didn’t work out so well and when you put leftover chips in a container, they don’t stay so crisp. So I just chopped them up and added to the soup. I was originally going to add spinach but the kale was there! It was perfect for the soup!

This recipe originally said it made 5 servings. My husband and I have had it twice this week so far, yes it’s only Tuesday! We had it as a meal for dinner and each had two bowls the first night. Second night we weren’t as hungry so only had one bowl each. There is at least another two bowls left! Yummmm…. It thickens up a little the second time around so if you like a little thinner soup, add more broth or water!

INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 pound or so, of pork leftovers, cubed into bite size pieces

4 medium green onions, sliced

1 small jalapeño chili, seeded and finely chopped (I used the jar jalapeño)

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

¼ cup chopped red onion

4-6 cups reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth (you can use vegetable broth too if you wish)

1 can (15-16 oz.) white beans (cannellini or great northern)

1 can (15-16 oz.) black beans

1 cup cooked brown rice

3-4 leaves of basil chopped/sliced

1 cup dried kale (you can use it fresh also)

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1 tablespoon dried cilantro

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a 3 quart nonstick saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add the pork and cook for 3-5 minutes until it starts getting a little browned, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the onions, chili and garlic and stir well. Cook for a few minutes until the onion starts to become translucent.
3. Add about 4 cups of the broth, beans, and kale. (I added another cup or so of the broth after I added other ingredients as it needed more liquid. It’s your choice) Heat to boiling and reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes or so.
4. Add the rice, basil, thyme and cilantro. Stir well and heat through.