Smoke In A Bowl

So, I ran across this great little recipe in Better Homes and Gardens magazine a few months ago.  Sausage and White Bean Stew with Kale.  I have made it a few times now, and have adapted it some-to make it a "one pot wonder".  The Orange Pot reports to duty on this recipe.  It's the perfect candidate.  I soaked one pound of white great northern beans in really hot water this morning before work.  Tonight when I got home, I browned about 1 1/2 pounds of Pep's smoked pork sausage in the Orange Pot.  I took it out of the pot, when it was nice a brown and let it drain on some paper towels.  To the Orange Pot, now laced with pork fat and browned goodness bits, I added a couple cups of chopped onions, three chopped large carrots, three chopped ribs of celery, 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh garlic, 1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves, a little kosher salt and some fresh cracked pepper.  I saute them a bit and then remove to the bowl I soaked the beans in, because now the beans are in a colander in the sink draining.  Add the drained beans to the Orange Pot along with 4 cups chicken stock and 4 cups vegetable stock.  Let the beans cook in the mixture covered for 45 minutes.  Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, add about 8 cups of stemmed kale and cook for 5 minutes, drain and let cool.  After the kale has cooled, rough chop and add to the Orange Pot of beans and stock.  Add back the smoked sausage and the sauteed vegetables and one large can of whole tomatoes (kinda cut them up).  Simmer a bit to let the flavors combine.  What you get is a smokey, flavorful, soupy, stewy, healthy concoction.  Kale is super food.  Super healthy for you and your kids won't even know it's to their benefit.  Go ahead and serve up a smokey bowl of goodness-your family will say "wow"-dude.