If I sit too long at the computer desk, my right hand extended and clicking away, it gets so cold that I can make Dennis gasp by sneaking it under his shirt and tucking it under his arm (I love to do this). I’ve broken out my box of winter clothes in storage and swapped them for the summer clothes that were in my drawers.  (This is a habit I inherited from my mother, which comes in handy since we have a small house and don’t have room for even my meager amount of clothes.)

Currently, I’m wearing fuzzy Frosty the Snowman pajama pants, thermal underwear, and my right hand is very cold.

Do you know what these signs indicate?  Yup, it’s officially soup weather!

This one is delicious(!) & nutritious so you can’t go wrong with it.  I subbed butter beans for the northern white beans but I woudln’t recommend it.  Go with the northern.  And check out the original blog to see how beautiful this soup can look if you have a good camera, camera skills, are a better cook, and used the right kind of beans.

I’m compelled to explain that my broth is murky b/c I only had beef broth on hand, and the beans are hiding b/c I only used 1 can.  You can kind of see hints of them if you look hard enough.

Kielbasa & Northern White Bean Soup

Adapted from Cooking, Dunkin Style

Olive Oil
1 package of turkey kielbasa sausage, sliced into 1/4″ rounds
2 cans northern white beans, drained & rinsed
1 (32-oz) carton chicken broth
1/2 onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
5 medium carrots, diced
2 cups shredded cabbage (optional–I just happened to have some leftover from the moo shu noodles)
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
Rosemary and Thyme to taste
1/2 a bag of SpinachPlace 2 tbl olive oil in your soup pot and saute the sausage until caramelized, remove and set aside.

Place the vegetables into the pan, adding more oil if needed and saute till the onions are translucent (about 10 minutes)

Add your sausage back in, then the beans, cabbage and chicken stock.

Add the bay leaf, salt, pepper, dash of thyme and some rosemary.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the carrots are crisp-tender.  Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.