Zuppa Toscana ...

YUM!

We love this soup when we eat at Olive Garden so I thought that I'd try to make it at home today. I looked up some recipes online then just went my own way and I have to admit that the finished product was yummilicious! Y'all should try this. I'll give ya my recipe since I like all the changes that I made. This fed our family of four and we just had one small bowl of leftover soup.

2 quarts of water
3 cans of chicken stock
10 medium sliced red potatoes (scrubbed with skin on)
1 sweet white onion
3 cloves of chopped garlic
1 pound of browned and drained spicy hot italian sausage (I added 2 more cloves of garlic here)
3-4 slices of crumbled (cooked) bacon
3 cups of hand shredded kale (fresh)
1 cup of heavy cream or half & half
salt and white pepper to taste
shredded parmesan cheese to taste

Simmer the taters and onion in the liquids for about an hour
Add the meats and simmer for 20 minutes
Add the kale and cream and simmer for 20 minutes as the flavors all combine
Salt and pepper to taste
Serve and add cheese on top if desired

We had garlic breadsticks with the soup and it really was sublime.

I made my first ever batch of cornbread stuffing yesterday with a small turkey (practice run) and some yams and sweet potatoes that the boys just loved. The meal turned out pretty darned good but I really was happier with the soup that we had tonight. I think that it may have just moved up to the top of the list as one of my favorite comfort foods this winter. I took a picture of it and I'll try to upload it. It was really easy to make so I hope that someone will try it.

Bon Appétit