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!

I'm Hip 2 Save

Since we've started our Financial Peace class at church, I'm working on becoming a couponing queen and having financial peace. My latest and now favorite couponing email/newsletter that I receive is from http://www.hip2save.com/! You get an email a day from this fun, sweet, and helpful gal with all the latest deals that are out there.

Sometimes, all the coupons are linked for you to grab online and other times, you'll need to have past coupons that you've saved to get the greatest savings. She even has videos to explain some of the in's and out's of couponing that are quite helpful. Did you know that Target will take 2 coupons!?! They will take a manufacturer's coupon and a Target coupon. That doubles your savings!

Still trying to get a system down for it though. I used to get the coupons, go through them and pull out what I'd need or use and toss the rest. Now, I'm starting to file all of the coupons and keep them so that I can get in on all the good deals and freebies!

Our new budget is starting to become fun now. I've always loved a good deal and yesterday I was just giddy over what I was able to get at Target.

I was able to get the five items above at Target for $4.18 (before taxes)! The price I would have paid is $11.18!! I had a savings of $7.00 in coupons. Now how cool is that!! I paid $.84 each for the Degree Girl deoderant rather than $2.34 each. The Reach Dental Floss, I paid $.52 instead of $1.52. The Nivea Body Wash would have cost me $3.49 but I had a $2.00 off coupon and paid just $1.49!

The savings are adding up so I'm able to spread that out in our grocery fund. I'll be adding the hip2save link on my blog for others to see when they visit. You just can't go wrong here ladies. It takes a bit of time in the beginning to get more organized and get your game plan but it really adds up! Happy Shopping!!

We got a Dollar...Hey, hey, hey hey!

I'm on a new mission! Couponing! We've been going to the Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class for the last several weeks. It has been very informative! If you ask me how it is, you will hear that last statement from me as well as "In my face". It is a great class to make sure you have all your financial ducks in a row but at times for me, it has been a bit overwhelming.

The first few weeks, you work on your budget. I can hear you groaning & trust me, I have and still do my fair share of groaning!! Jack and I thought we were doing pretty good...NOT!

So, my lately endevor is to start taking advantage of all those dollars out there that are available to everyone. I've always been a bargain shopper and a coupon clipper. Now, I'm getting more serious though.

I've recently signed up for two electronic coupon programs. That way, if you run into the store to grab that gallon of milk and remember that you haven't ate lunch, you can grab that yogurt that you have a coupon for at home and not feel guilty for not waiting until you had it. When you scan your Rewards or Club card, you'll get the discount! How easy is that?? I guess I'll have to let you know after I've used it.

The two electronic coupon programs that I've signed up for are: http://shortcuts.com/Home.action and http://www.cellfire.com/. They came to me in an email from another coupon program that I've subscribed to. Each day, I get an email from http://www.thriftyandthriving.com/. Within it are a number of savings opportunities.

Today, one of the deals was a Mr. Potatoe Head from Toys R Us for $1.99 which is normally around $9.99! If you go to Thrify and Thriving, you can see this deal with the coupon as well as all the others available.

I'm hoping to be singing the Dollar song and doing a little jig but replacing it with $100 or even $50! The most important thing to keep in mind though...don't buy it if you don't need it. Good luck!