John, your mom certainly knew what she was doing because my family and I agreed that this was one of the best soups we've ever eaten! I didn't add the bones to the soup, however, slowly roasted beef bones the day before and then made my stock.(better flavor) The following day I was then able to get rid of the fat that had surfaced and hardened. If I hadn't already had the bones in the house, I would have just used canned low salt beef broth and consomme. I did add more seasonings to the soup (garlic and onion powders) along with a can of beef consomme for some added flavor. Hubby did the grocery shopping and couldn't find pea beans, so we used canned pinto beans instead. Our grocery store didn't carry chorizo, so he decided to go to a specialty market to get it and paid $11.00 a pound for the sausage. Yikes! The kale held up beautifully in the soup (thanks Mic for the 411 on kale), the chorizo added a hint of heat and the cabbage mellowed out the whole soup with a touch of sweetness. Thanks for an amazing and delicious soup recipe that's even more appreciated on a sub-zero winter evening!

This is a good recipe and if you're from R.I. or SE Mass then you know all about Portugese soup. I'll give you a couple of twists on the recipe provided that will make it a little easier and taste great. For the broth use 1/2 beef broth and 1/2 chicken broth. No need to make your own unless you really want to. Around here we don't use the cabbage and we use either red kidney beans or pinto beans. In other parts of the country it is hard to find Chourico....(not to be confused with Chourizo which is Mexican and is very different), but the Chourico is essential! Linguica comes in a close second and is easier to find. If you really want to taste authentic Portugese soup then you really should make the effort to find the Chourico. But beware!! it is spicy! This is great soup that tastes very unique but try it without the kids first..it may be a little much for them. Give it a try!

This is very tasty! I used hot Portuguese Linguisa sausage, red cabbage, yellow potatoes, three cans of beef broth (and added some extra water)and a pinch of crushed red pepper along with the kale and it turned out wonderful!

I've never had kale but got a whole lot from a local farm, so I turned to allrecipes to figure out what to do with it. I was skeptical, but this was a success! Hubby and I both liked it, but kiddos only ate the potatoes. I didn't know what white pea beans were, so I used two cans of black eyed peas. I used beef broth instead of the soup bones. I cut back on the cabbage because it all wouldn't fit in my biggest stock pot. How much is one bunch of kale? I just had a huge bag of it from the farmers. Anyhow, I'm not scared of kale anymore and plan to try other recipes too! (Like I said, I've got a huge bag of it!)

This recipe has got to be the best! Only reason I did not give 5 stars to the kid friendly rating is because it may be too spicy for really young children. Instead of dried, I used canned white northern beans, tossed everything into the pot and let it simmer. Absolutely delicious.

This was good, but way too spicy for me (because of the meat). I didn't have any bones so left that out. I cooked this in a crockpot and it sure smelled good! Makes a generous amount. Would be great soup to chase away a cold!

good soup! i also add 1-2 cans of peas smashed. stew beef 1lb. hand full of ditalini macaroni during the last 5-10 min of cooking..and 2 cans of kidney beans

Delicious simple soup. I used some hot smoked Hungarian sausage in place of chorizo. I also cheated by using low sodium beef boullion in place of the beef bones. I used the canned beans also. I will definately make this again.

I modified this quite a bit as I am Portuguese born and raised in New Bedford, MA. I chopped 2 med. onions and minced 5 garlic cloves. I put those two ingredients in a large stock pot over 3T heated Olive Oil for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. I cubed 5 large Idaho potatoes, de-skinned and washed, I let them sit to dry out for a minute while I prepared 8 cups of buillion beef broth in a 2 quart saucepan. I added sliced Portuguese Gaspars Chourico chopped in quarters over the onion/garlic mixture for about 10minutes. Then, to this onion/garlic/oil/chourico mixture I added 1 can Red Kidney Beans, 1 can no salt diced tomatoes, 1/2t koarse salt, 1/2t black pepper. I then added the boiled over buillion mixture with 2 cups of chicken broth to onion/chourico mixture in the stock pot. I added 2 Bay leaves and brought this to a boil about 25minutes. I then added 2 T vinegar, 8ounces macaroni, the chopped potatoes and cooked additional 20 minutes and added more stock/ beef buillion boiled in water if needed. I then added washed 3 bunches of Kale and 1/2 head of cabbage thats been ripped in large bite sized pieces from stalks (do not use hard stalks) into the veggie/chourico mixture. I let it simmer and it was ready in about 20 minutes. This is absolutely delicious! My husband who hates veggies ate all of them, including the kale, cabbage and diced tomatoes!! This is a winner and so easy to make, it comes from my the Azores, Portugal.

I didn't follow the recipe to the letter, for instance, I added some diced carrots, onion, celery, and garlic; and used sun-dried tomato chicken sausage, but my family really liked it. My five year old son said it was "really good soup". I blended up a few of the vegetables and about half of the beans. Yummy soup-thanks for the recipe-we need to eat more kale!