Home Cooking

In an effort to satisfy my cravings for Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana soup and save money by not going out to eat I attempted to make the soup at home.  And, the attempt was a success!  Bryan normally enjoys eating whatever I make, but on this occasion he had about 3 bowls of the soup along with the chicken piccata that I made. He would get a bowl of it and one minute later the bowl would be empty.  I think that ranks as a good meal.  And, as the saying goes, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach", I think Bryan will stay around for a long time. So if you also enjoy this soup and would like to try it at home here is the recipe and the changes I made while cooking it.

Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana

Makes: 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb ground Italian sausage

• 1½ tsp crushed red peppers

• 1 large diced white onion

• 4 Tbsp bacon pieces

• 2 tsp garlic puree (I used minced garlic)

• 10 cups water

• 5 cubes of chicken bouillon

• 1 cup heavy cream (I used 2% milk to cut down the calories and fat)

• 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes (I used 2 potatoes and that was more than enough)

• ¼ of a bunch of kale (I used an entire bunch of kale)

1. Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
2. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
3. Add chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
4. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour. (if you cut them small like they do at Olive Garden it should only take around 15mins)
5. Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.
6. Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve.

Along with this soup earlier this week I made an impromptu soup out of the sweet potato, squash, and onion hash that I had made.  Just put it all in the blender with some milk and I had creamy sweet potato and squash soup.  Although it looked like baby food it did taste pretty good.  :)