Italian Soup Recipe

I love, love, LOVE the Zuppa Toscana Soup from Olive Garden but after going through the Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace classes (which we would highly recommend to everyone), eating out is rarely in the budget.  We are dedicated to sticking to our budget and staying on task...one last debt to go! 

I had looked up a recipe online some time ago and saved it to my computer.  Pulled it up, made a grocery list and went shopping on Friday to get my ingredients.  Have you ever bought Kale before!?  We certainly had not but we have now.  Wonder what I'm going to do with that extra Kale??  If anyone has another great recipe to use up my remaining kale...please comment and let me know!  Otherwise, we will just have to suffer (NOT!) through another pot of soup next week.

Time to give it a try.  I must say that it was very easy but a little time consuming.  It probably took an hour plus from start to finish to prepare and cook the soup but it was well worth it!!  We will certainly be adding this recipe to the recipe file! 

Note to Chef...turn on some Italian music, pour yourself a glass of wine and get cooking!  Delish!!

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
• 10 cups water
• 5 cubes of chicken bouillon
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
• ¼ of a 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.  We used potatoes that we had in stock and I would encourage you to use more than what the recipe calls for.  We all felt like it needed more potatoes and we had thinly sliced them but will leave them a little thicker sliced next time.
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 with some Italian sliced and buttered bread.  Delicious!

Buon appetito!