Sausage Lentil Kale Soup

This recipe appealed to me because of the "healthy" foods in it, i.e., the kale and the split peas, but also the appeal-to-Dad food in it, i.e., the Kielbasa Sausage. The original is found on Kitchen Parade, here. Make sure you read her tip for how to prepare the Kale, as the hardest thing about eating kale (I think) is the stringy texture. So anything you can do to remove the strings can only help. Of course, I adapted it to what I had on hand, which is lots of cannery-canned dry soup mix, and a package of frozen tomatoes that needed to be used. But I did buy the kale and the sausage especially for this recipe. So here's how I did it:

4 oz. Kielbasa sausage
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 onions, chopped
1 quart tomatoes
1 quart water
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
1 cup dry soup mix
1 bunch kale
2 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot over medium high heat while you prepare the sausage. Cut the sausage in quarters lengthwise, then slice into little bits. Add to the hot pot (it should sizzle) and stir around. Chop the onions and the garlic and add them as well, being careful that the sausage doesn't burn while you do. In other words, turn the heat down if you have to, and stir often. While the sausage and veggies simmer, blend the tomatoes up on high. Then add the blended tomatoes, the water, and the bouillon granules to the soup pot. Stir in the dry soup mix (or split green peas or lentils or whatever you're using). Prepare the kale by soaking it in a sinkfull of water for a couple of minutes then remove the stems and just keep the curly leaves. Chop the leaves finely then add them to the soup pot, along with the carrots. Turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for 90 minutes or until the peas and lentils in the soup mix are cooked through. Stir in the vinegar and salt and pepper and serve immediately.