Zuppa Toscana

Ah! I made something wonderful last night! So one of my favorite meals is Zuppa Toscana at Olive Garden. Now, sadly most of my favorite meals are made at restaurants . . . and that's pricy for newly married college students. So, I'm figuring out how to make them at home. The recipe for this one came from: Home Sweet Cozy Home. But to be honest her directions were pretty hard to read so I've redone them. Next time I make it, I'll take pictures of each step for you!

Dearest family. You HAVE to make this. It's easy and absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Italian sausage 
• (I used 5th Street Grill Italian Turkey Sausage from Costco and it smelled and tasted exactly like Olive Garden's soup.)
• 2 large russet baking potatoes
• 1 large onion
• 1/2 cup bacon bits
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 cups kale 
• (I used swiss chard 'cause that's what I got in my basket)
• 2 (1.4 oz) cans chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

1. Slice sausage into thin slices.
2. Add sausage to a small pot and allow it to brown on low while you complete next few steps. (Stir occasionally to brown all sides.)
3. In another large soup pot combine chicken broth and water and turn burner on medium.
4. Wash (don't peel) the two potatoes and cut both in half longwise. Then slice the potatoes into half circles about 1/4 inch thick.
5. Dice the large onion (yes all of it - trust me).
6. Add the potatoes, onion, and garlic to chicken broth and water pot.
7. Boil the potatoes until you can stick a fork through them easily. 
8. Add the browned sausage and bacon bits to the soup.
9. Salt and pepper to taste (I didn't need to add any salt, but did add a healthy amount of pepper.)
10. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
11. Turn heat to low.
12. Add kale and whipping cream.
13. Warm all the way through and serve.

As a side note, we found that it tasted AMAZING with buttered french bread. Yeah . . . we ate a lot of french bread. We'll find out today if it tastes as good as a left over. Next task, figure out the olive garden salad dressing.