Ingrid's soup

OK, today was a very typical fall day in Salem, Oregon..... rain, rain, rain.....I did not want to go to the store but I wanted to make the soup.....So after looking in my pantry and refrigerator I decided to attempt the recipe with what I found....I am happy to say it was a big hit.






Well I had gone to Portland last week and purchased some goodies from Trader Joe's and a couple other of my favorite stores. Among the groceries I had some dried cannelini beans and fresh escarole; both of which I had intended to use in different dishes.
I cooked the beans in a pressure cooker with one bay leaf in it.
For people who enjoy using endive in various dishes, escarole is a form of endive that is both versatile and tasty. Sometimes referred to as broad chicory or common chicory.
To my surprise I did have some andouille sausage, but I only had half the amount asked for in the recipe so I added 3 slices of cooked bacon to the soup since I had no other sausage available.
For the salad I had to improvise with arugula and herb salad mix, The boys asked me to add some red onion and apple to it and it was delicious!!!
I only added 1/2 the amount of honey since Leslee mentioned that it was a bit too sweet. I have to say that the boys still found it too sweet, I think that next time I will only add half the maple syrup as well. I am not a big fan of sweet salad dressing but this one is pretty good. The recipe sure makes a lot I only added half to our salad and saved the rest in the refrigerator.














I like to add the leafy veggies at the end to keep that nice fresh taste and to let people add as much or as little according to their taste, I also love fresh green onion sprinkled on top.
We had some delicious fresh backed french bread that Leon grabbed at the bakery on the way home and........... voila.........














I would definitely make this soup again, The salad too but with less honey and maple syrup.