Curried Butternut Squash and Kale Soup

I orginally saw this recipe on the web at http://vegtastic.net/ around Thanksgiving and opted not to make it for the holiday.  I needed a soup recipe this week to go with our salads and I ran across this recipe again.  I tweaked the ingredients a bit to cut down on the preparation time, but the result was a delicious, flavorful soup.  I will definitely be making this one again....and it works for any season, not just the fall and winter.

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• Olive oil
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced (I used frozen butternut squash)
• 1 bunch small carrots (or a couple large ones), peeled and diced
• 6 cups water + 1 TBS un-beef broth (or 6 cups broth)
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (I used 365 brand canned lite coconut milk from Whole Foods) 
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 12-16 oz of frozen chopped kale greens

• 
  
• Instructions:

1. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until browned. (Since I used minced garlic from a jar, I added the garlic once the onions were almost ready).
2. Add sweet potato, squash, and carrots and saute for a few minutes.  (I microwaved my frozen butternut squash, and  set it aside for a later step).
3. Add broth, coconut milk, curry powder and salt and pepper (to taste). Cook until veggies are soft.
4. If using frozen greens and squash, wait until the carrot and sweet potato softens a bit, then add the frozen kale greens and the microwaved squash to the pot and continue to simmer until the greens are tender and the sweet potato and carrot can be easily pierced with a fork.
5. Puree about 3/4 of the mixture with an immersion blender or in a regular blender; return to pot, if using regular blender.
6. If using fresh kale, add kale and cook for a minute or two longer.
7. Serve immediately.