Kale Soup

My mom has been cooking kale in her soup for quite some time now and I love the flavor of it. Dad grew so much of it in his garden this year that I've been enjoying the benefits of it. I chopped it up and added it to this chicken broth veggie soup I made and it was so good. Going off my other recipe for tortellini soup I figured adding tortellini to it I couldn't go wrong and I was right.

I can't remember the measurements but it went something like this:
1 box of chicken broth
4 c water
diced carrots
diced celery
3 c frozen tortellini
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 tsp Italian herbs
I'm sure there was some garlic in there too
1/4 chopped onion
2 c washed, de-ribbed, chopped fresh kale

We sprinkled a little Parmesan cheese on top of the soup.

Kale has a really mild taste when cooked that is so smooth....it's really not bitter at all. Want to know more about why Kale is so good for you?....here, I dug this up on the net.....

When you mention kale, the majority will look up with raised eyebrows and mumble "What"? "What's that"? An old, hardly spoken of and powerful green food. Kale is a leafy green vegetable with a mild earthy flavor. The season for kale is between mid winter and early spring where it can be found in abundance in most produce sections of the local grocery store. However, one can find kale year round. Thankfully, kale is starting to garner well deserved attention due its nutrient rich phytochemical content which provides unparalleled health promoting benefits.

Kale absolutely rich and abundant in calcium, lutein, iron, and Vitamins A, C, and K. Kale has seven times the beta-carotene of broccoli and ten times more lutein. Kale is rich in Vitamin C not to mention the much needed fiber so lacking in the daily diet of processed food eating Americans. The "Icing on the Kale" are the natural occurring all important phytochemicals sulforaphane and indoles which research suggests may protect against cancer. Let's not forget the all important antioxidant Vitamin E. Rest assured kale spares nothing in providing one with much needed nutrients and associated health benefits.

The naturally rich sulfur content of kale deserves a bit more discussion. Science has discovered that sulforaphane, helps boost the body's detoxification enzymes, possibly by altering gene expression. This is turn is purported to help clear carcinogenic substances in a timely manner. Sulforaphane is formed when cruciferous vegetables like kale are chopped or chewed. This somehow triggers the liver to produce enzymes that detoxify cancer causing chemicals, of which we all are exposed on daily basis. A recently new study in the Journal of Nutrition (2004) demonstrates that sulforaphane helps stop breast cancer cell proliferation.