Spicy Fall Colors Soup

Sometimes, experiments fail.

That's why they're experiments, I guess. You find out if something works or not.

In the case of this soup....SUCCESS!!!

I like it. It's nummy. Great for cold nights when you need some comfort food...but guess what? It doesn't have the characteristic high fat content of comfort food. Actually, it's pretty healthy. Okay okay, so there's bacon. Sue me.

Honestly, I don't claim to be a genius on this one. It was kind of just...stuff that I had in my fridge that I had to use up. Go figure they all go awesome together. EXPERIMENT WIN!!!

Curse my phone for taking such awful, out-of-focus pictures. I will take better ones when I make this again.

     I know the photo doesn't look appetizing. I feel bad about that. Especially because the tagline for this blog is "Food porn for everyone". This is like, bad porn. Really bad porn. Like, in the 4 dollar bin at a sketchy porn store. Ick.

But regardless of the lackluster photography (which I will remedy once I actually cook in daylight and remember to have my nice camera at the ready), this is a tasty, tasty dish. Let me lay it out for you, sans measurements (as you all know, that's how I roll):

- 1/4 of a medium sizes butternut squash, cut into small cubes
-  A few stalks of kale (stems and spine removed), chopped up
- 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped into circular slices
- 1/4 cup celery, sliced into small pieces
- 1/2 cup Veggie Penne Pasta (this stuff rules, it has tomatoes and squash in it!)
- 1 cup spinach
- Dash red pepper flakes
- Dash cayenne pepper
- 1 clove garlic, finely diced
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 5 Strips bacon
- Salt & Pepper (the bacon is going to add quite a bit of salt, so go easy on it at first and add more as needed)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (or a parmesan rind would work probably, too)
- Enough chicken stock / broth to cover everything (I kept adding throughout the process because the veggies kept soaking it up, so I don't have a good idea of how much I added. Probably somewhere around 2 1/2 - 3 cups)
- 1 can cannelloni beans

Mounds of Bacon. That should be a band name, for sure.

Here's how it goes down.

- Sauté the butternut squash, celery, carrots, and kale in heated oil and large enough pot until kale has begun to wilt.

- In a separate pan, cook bacon on low until crispy.

- Add spinach and garlic, and cook for another couple minutes, until spinach has wilted and garlic is fragrant but not burnt.

- Add beans.

- Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper.

- Add chicken stock.

- Add lemon juice.

- Add parm.

-Bring to a boil, and then bring it back down to simmering. I covered my pot in attempts to keep moisture in.

- Once bacon is done, remove from pan and place onto paper towels to soak up grease. Let cool slightly, then chop into bite-sized pieces. Add the bacon to the pot.

-Simmer for about 20 minutes or so, then add pasta. Bring pot back up to a boil, and cook about 10 minutes, until pasta is done.

-Freakin. Eat it.

Look at all the greens!!! 

I gotta tell ya --- the bacon adds so much great flavor to the soup!!! It's actually pretty cool. The kale and pasta just soak it right up. Way to go bacon.
The soup turns out salty and hot from the spices and bacon. It's also creamy and sweet thanks to the softened carrots, white beans, and butternut squash. And it's the perfect amount of carbs with that little bit of pasta. If only I had bread to dip it in. Le sigh. Next time!