Ever since I was a little girl the first question I asked when sitting down at a restaurant (regardless of the time) was “what is your soup of the day?” There is something very comforting about soup and I have grown very fond of making a variety of homemade soups.  Brodo is a popular restaurant in the Buffalo area mostly known for their wonderful soups. Their house soup is my favorite and here is my attempt at recreating it.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion
• 6 cups of veggie or chicken broth
• 1 medium white onion
• 4 small cloves fresh garlic diced
• 1 jalapeno cut length wise (seeded)
• Small bunch organic collard greens
• Small bunch organic kale
• 1 bag of tri-color radiatore noodle
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Vegetable or chicken bouillon to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• Garlic Powder to taste
• Optional-dash of chipotle chili pepper for extra spice
• Optional-1 pack of hot Italian sausage patties

Steps:

1)   Pour the veggie/chicken broth into a large pan add the garlic, diced onion, jalapeno and bay leafs and set to medium heat

2)   If you opt to put the sausage in: On a medium-sized skillet over medium heat take the sausage patties and break them apart as it cooks into bite size pieces. Sprinkle with chipotle chili powder if you like extra spice.  Once the sausage is cooked and broken down put into the broth.

3)   Wash and cut the kale and collard greens length and width wise so that each piece are cut into smaller squares and put into the broth. I like to keep the stems they are loaded with nutrients and gives a nice little crunch to the soup (it is up to you on the amount of greens you want in your soup but do keep in mind that greens do wilt down a considerable amount.)

4)   Let the flavors combine over low heat for an hour stirring occasionally.

5)   While the soup is cooking boil water and cook the pasta according to the directions. I always keep my pasta separate from the broth until I am serving to prevent it from getting soggy. It is also nice because everyone likes a different amount of pasta in his or her soup.

6)   Add salt, pepper,  garlic powder and veggie/chicken bouillon to the broth as needed.

7)   Serve with pasta and enjoy!