Flu Be Gone Soup

Actually, Flu Stay Away Soup. The "Be Gone" part sounded cooler, like something a snake doctor would sell. Yes, the flu arrived at my house in full force on my husband yesterday. I cannot get sick right now! We are leaving for Hawaii in less than a week! Tyler (oh! he has a name!) is on the mend so he'll be good by the time we leave, but it's crunch time for me. So I decided to make some fortifying soup with lots of vegetables- aka vitamins, aka pump up my immune system to keep the flu away. And as an added bonus, it's delicious. Any vegetables that you have can go into this- swiss chard or spinach instead of kale, sweet potato instead of squash, or just throw in some extra veggies on top of the ones in the recipe below- but add softer veggies like zuccini at the end with the beans. I didn't have any bread (I know, shock and horror) to make croutons as a garnish, but some bread cubed small, tossed with olive oil, and toasted in the oven would not go amiss sprinkled on top of a bowl of this (hopefully) fortifying elixir.

WINTER MINESTRONE

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, quartered and sliced
• 3 slices prosciutto, chopped*
• 1 leek, white part only, washed, sliced into half moons**
• 8 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 1 carrot, diced
  
• 1 large baking potato, diced into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 butternut squash, diced into 1-inch cubes
• 1 14-oz can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 bunch kale, chopped
• 1 Parmesan rind, if available
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• splash lemon juice

Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, cook for 3 minutes until slightly softened. Add prosciutto, cook 3 minutes. Add leeks, cook 3-5 minutes until softened. Add chicken stock, carrot, potato, squash, Parmesan, and thyme. Bring to a boil (I add the stock and then dice the potatoes, adding as I chop- quicker this way).

Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes and squash are cooked through, 15-20 minutes. Add beans and kale, simmer 5 minutes to warm through and meld flavors.

Remove thyme stems and Parmesan rind. Add splash of lemon juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

*I roll them up together then slice into ribbons, then run my knife through again
**Leeks are very sandy- I slice them lengthwise and run them under water to remove the dirt