So, it’s official – I’m a wuss. Was it just a short week ago that I was whining about the heat and wishing for some cooler weather? Well it’s here and now I’m freezing my butt off!
The sad thing is, it’s only getting down into the mid-40’s at night, but it might as well be Fargo in January as far as I’m concerned. And it’s embarrassing because I grew up in New England and would sometimes refuse to wear a coat out until it got below 32 degrees just on principle! I was tough, people! Now the indoor temp got down to 69 the other night and I had to unpack my Snuggie just to watch TV! Yes, I have a Snuggie. It’s hot pink, it’s warm and toasty, and I can’t live without it…don’t judge. I guess this cold intolerance means I’m officially Southern now. Maybe I should just stop fighting it and start saying y’all, drinking sweet tea, and listening to country music… yeah, that’s not going to happen.
Anyway, I realized that though I was looking forward to cooler weather, I was woefully unprepared for it. It only got up into the 60’s the other day and when I went to get my 5 year old son dressed, I realized he didn’t have any long pants that fit! He’s been wearing shorts for so long that he grew out of all of his old jeans. Now I need to take him clothes shopping so he doesn’t look like he’s expecting a flood. The problem is, if I take him in the morning, or at night, and he’s wearing shorts and it’s freezing, then people will think I’m a horrible mother. But if I let him wear his 3-inch too short jeans, I’ll end up on the people of Walmart website to be mocked by the entire interweb. I seriously considered ordering a bunch of clothes online, but then I have to wait for shipping and we won’t be able to leave the house for days. So my brilliant strategy is to shop mid-day today when it’s supposed to hit the high 70’s and he can get away with shorts one last time. But the window of opportunity is closing so I have to get going soon or wait for another warm day. First world problems…
So while I’m unprepared in the clothing department, one thing I’ve got down is this soup. I’ve been making versions of it for years because it’s so simple and delicious. My friend Becky introduced me to it and I loved it instantly. She made hers with white beans as the starch, and though I love it that way my new favorite is using sweet potatoes or pumpkin for the starchy component. It makes it Paleo friendly, colorful, and the hint of sweetness is so comforting. It’s low in calories, loaded with vitamins and antioxidants, and super easy to throw together! Not to mention satisfying and so delicious! I garnish it with red pepper flakes for a touch of heat, and a little grated parmesan cheese for a mouthwatering saltiness. I just can’t get enough of this soup – I made a big pot the other day and I’ve eaten at least one bowl per day since! Hope you guys like it too!
Turkey Sausage, Kale & Pumpkin Soup
- Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients
- 1 lb sweet italian turkey sausage
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 3 cups chopped pumpkin or butternut squash
- 4 cups chopped kale
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Cook sausage in a medium sized saucepan. Add onions and saute until translucent. Pour the broth and water into the saucepan and bring to a boil – reduce heat.
- Add the kale and pumpkin and simmer until the pumpkin is soft, about 20 minutes.
- Serve hot, garnished with grated parmesan and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Category: Soups/stews
- Cuisine: Soup
Nutrition
- Calories: 118
- Fat: 6g
- Carbohydrates: 5.5g net
- Protein: 11g
Matt says
I seasoned the meat with seasoned salt, pepper, and garlic powder while browning at the beginning, and added traditional chicken soup seasonings after the liquids went in – more salt and pepper, marjoram, tarragon, thyme, turmeric, celery salt and celery seed. A bit of onion powder. Delicious! For my taste, while I find most of your recipes to be richly seasoned and very tasty, the brothy soups (as opposed to the cheesy soups!) are a little bland as written but really blossom with the addition of some dried spices. I’m a huge fan of how easy you’ve made everything to prepare as well, and the shopping lists are also very helpful.
I’m starting my fifth week, now on the Week 3 menu page – there was an awful lot of food for one person who isn’t very active in the summer in Week 1, and that fed me easily for two weeks. I nursed Week 2 to two weeks by making a little extra of some things like the breakfast pancakes and starting the ‘ham and cheese sandwiches’ a couple days early. Before I started the weeklies I did a week on the “5 day” chicken soup kickstart. I’m down a little more than 15 lbs since I started in mid-June, and 10 of those pounds I lost twice due to some weight gainback on very occasional “eat out” cheat days. My goal is to lose the 50ish lbs that will put me back at my pretty healthy HS weight of 30+ years ago. Budgeting now to replace my wardrobe this fall if I succeed, haha.
One last note: I didn’t believe the hype about San Marzano tomatoes until I accidentally bought the wrong can for my second batch of marinara and it was obviously, horribly inferior. I wound up tossing that batch after using less than 25% and doing it over with better tomatoes. Regardless whether Cento SM tomatoes officially ‘count’ as San Marzano without the official labeling, they have a hugely different taste than the Cento regular organic tomatoes and are worth the 15% premium.
Kerri D says
I couldn’t find turkey sausage…so I did chicken Italian sausage. I’m sure for Keto purposes my counts are a bit off but not by much! You’re recipes are AMAZING! I love cooking but needed to seriously cut out the junk. This soup was so filling and delicious. I also used butternut squash cubes because me and pumpkin just are not friends!!
Thank you so much for your recipes and the time you put into your meal planning! 2 weeks and 12 lbs down and loving everything I’ve made from your site;
★★★★★
Souphilia says
I am in New Zealand. We have turkey at Christmas but that is about it. There is no such thing as turkey sausage here at all.
We can get sausages (what Americans call sausage links) in a range of flavours, and some that are very low carb. We can get non-encased sausage meat, but it is genearlly carby with no flavours.
I have seen a few online recipes for home made sweet italian turkey sausage. I am going to try this one, but I am going to have to substitute the turkey for chicken: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/sweet-italian-turkey-sausage-263842
I thought I would use boneless chicken thighs with skin on them instead of the turkey, as I cannot get turkey, and just grind them up. I could put in a little pork sausage with it, to make it more sausagey? I have some good low carb, well flavoured pork breakfast sausages. Just not sure. It is hard to know if your substitute is a close substitute when you have never had the original! I have googled for the macro profile of the original and I am going to try to get my home made version close.
Sophilia says
So I made the recipe at the link. I used about 400g of chicken with skin and 100g of pork sausage as my meat. I used stevia and sugar free maple syrup instead of the brown sugar (no brown sugar substitutes in NZ). I ground it all up in my food processor with the herbs and spices at the link. I cooked it off just now for the soup. It was gorgeous!!!! Really tasty.
I have no idea if it tastes as it should but it is really nice and it will be a nice flavour in the soup.
Jamie Meier says
Absolutely loving this soup, but I added the recipe to My Fitness Pal and I’m getting a hugely different calorie/carb/fiber count than you are. It’s putting me over 20g for one serving! Can you help?
Thanks!!
Mellissa Sevigny says
My numbers are accurate, MFP is notoriously inaccurate unfortunately – make sure it’s subtracting fiber for net carbs and not giving you total carbs.
Barbara says
I absolutely love this soup, I have made it twice this month. Once with Italian sausage and the second time with chicken because that is what I had.on hand. I added a bay leaf and a little garlic. This is one of my favorites.
★★★★★
Ashley says
Hi Melissa- This is so delicious and very filling! Do you think it’s safe to freeze this soup? Love your blog!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks Ashley, and YES! I make a huge batch and freeze it all of the time and it works great!!!!
Pat says
Thanks for putting your video on the blog. It was nice to see the entire piece vs. the 3 word soundbite that flashed by on TV.
And…I just polished off a big bowl of the Sausage, Kale, and Squash soup. Such a simple recipe and yet really flavorful, even the first day. I have some Kale left over and plan to make baked Kale chips for something salty and crisp. My fridge is starting to look like a Farmer’s Market with all the healthy veggies. I do not miss the grains/sugar at all; just wish I were losing at a faster pace.
Pat says
Quick question, please. From the photo of the soup, it appears you removed the sausage from the casing to saute it or used bulk sausage. Is that correct? I purchased sweet Italian links vs. bulk and probably would have sliced the links had I not noticed the picture. I’m making this tomorrow, substituting Acorn Squash and hope that works well. It will be a perfect day for soup – temps in the Northeast are expected in the single digits again!
Thanks so much. I’ve never eaten so well since starting the Keto Plan w/ you.
Lastly, watched Dr. Oz today and saw your South Carolina video very briefly. To be honest, you were robbed. Too bad you couldn’t choose your own dish to submit. I’m sure it would have won 1st Prize.
Mellissa Sevigny says
If I do use the links I just squeeze them out of the casing before cooking them and break it up in the pan. Enjoy!
Charity says
Do you have any sugge for alternatives I really don’t like kale
Mellissa Sevigny says
A leafy green that you actually do like.
Holly says
Made this for the first time today, followed recipe except I could not find sweet italian turkey sausage so I used Jennie-O italian spiced ground turkey. It is D-LICIOUS, especially once you add the hot pepper flakes and some grated parm!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Right??? It’s SO easy, but has so much delicious flavor – I love this soup and make it all winter long! Glad you liked it too!
Emariel says
This soup was delicious. As it simmered, I got antsy and began to think it needed something to give some more body to the broth, but as the starches broke down and all the flavors came together (I used sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin), it evolved beautifully. Tastes even better the second day! Thanks so much for all your wonderful recipes.
Mellissa Sevigny says
I know what you mean Emariel, it doesn’t seem like those few ingredients can come together to make such a rich, comforting broth but they do! I love this soup so much, and I really like using sweet potatoes in it too! So glad you liked it!
Sparky says
I made this last night and it was SOOO GOOOD. I wish I put more kale in, honestly. But I love kale. I also sprinkled in a dash of curry powder as well.
Thank you for the recipe, I left just enough to eat it three nights in a row for dinner!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks Sparky, I’m so glad you liked it! I’m intrigued by your curry powder addition and I’ll be trying that for sure in my next batch! Thanks for sharing! :)
Melisa says
Hey, I’m a southern girl and I don’t drink sweet tea (too carby!) and I can’t stand country music. I do say y’all occasionally, though! Even though it’s still in the upper 80s here, I’ve been thinking of soup. Soup is the only good thing about winter, IMHO. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any gluten-free, msg-free Italian sausage. I don’t mind whether it is turkey or traditional but I just can’t find ANY. I do mind if it is sweet because I don’t like the sweet variety. What brand do you use (unless it only comes in sweet)?
Mellissa Sevigny says
Jones Dairy has an entire line of gluten free sausages that you can try and the type of sausage doesn’t matter that much – I’ve used sweet, hot, and even regular breakfast sausage in a pinch. Hope you like it!
Anonymous says
Long time lurker… Thank you for the introduction to People of Walmart! That website is just amazing. However, I do need to applaud you on your website; I’ve found many cooking inspirations here, and you seem like a sincerely affable person..
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks for taking the time to comment and I’m happy that you’re enjoying the recipes! People of Walmart is hilarious and sad at the same time – it is my lifelong goal to never end up posted there! ha ha! :)
Kaylee says
This is probably a silly question but did you actually buy a pumpkin or is there a canned option?
Mellissa Sevigny says
Hi Kaylee, canned pumpkin won’t work for this soup because it’s a puree. If you don’t want to mess with a pumpkin, you can also use sweet potato or butternut squash which you can buy cubed in the produce department of larger grocery stores.
Pam says
I made this last night and bought cut up butternut squash. I added a dash of cream after I served it in a bowl and it was very good!
★★★★★
Pam says
I also substituted Italian Sausage for Turkey Sausage….
Camille says
Hi There,
We think I Breath I’m Hungry is quite Pinteresting!
Since Florida Orange Juice joined the Pinterest community recently, we’ve been on the lookout for other users with pin boards that could help bring to life the Florida Orange Juice personality, and we think I Breath I’m Hungry fits the bill! By way of this post, we’re hoping to receive your authorization to repin original images from the I Breath I’m hungry pinterest account, and let you know you are welcome to do the same with Florida Orange Juice pins.
As Pinterest’s Terms of Service continue to evolve, we felt this manner of outreach was the best approach to make sure we have your approval to share your pin boards and provide you access to ours. Should you have any questions, or wish for us to create a more formal licensing agreement to repin I Breath I’m Hungry content, we would be glad to do so.
If you are not the appropriate person for such a request, we would greatly appreciate you letting us know who the best social community manager is to contact.
Please let me know if there is a way to reach you by email.
Many thanks for your time. We look forward to hearing from you!
-Camille
GolinHarris, on behalf of the Florida Department of Citrus
Anonymous says
Hi Mellissa,
Any thoughts on the above?
Best,
Camille
Mellissa Sevigny says
Hi Camille, hope you’re checking back as I wasn’t sure how to contact you. You certainly DO have my permission to pin from I Breathe I’m Hungry, thanks for asking! If you have any questions for me feel free to email me at sevigm@yahoo.com. Thanks!