Bringing the Restaurant Home

With a cold front blowing in this week, I knew it was going to the perfect week for a new soup, but I wasn't sure what to make.  None of the recipes from my magazine were popping out at me and money is a bit tight, but I was determined to find something to make.  I searched some recipes that I had saved from Facebook and did some online perusing before I found a recipe I was excited to try.  It's been awhile since I have been to Olive Garden, but I love getting their soup and salad.  My favorite soup?  Zuppa Toscana.  I found a crock pot copycat recipe and decided to give it a try!

I found the recipe here:   http://allshecooks.com/2013/04/09/copycat-zuppa-toscana/

Zuppa Toscana Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 lb bacon, chopped (I decided to leave this out and didn't miss it.)
1 lb hot Italian sausage (I used mild and added some crushed red pepper flakes when I was cooking it.)
1/2 cup onion
2 garlic cloves
3 medium (or 2 large) russet potatoes, sliced
4 cups chicken stock (I used broth)
2 cups water
3-4 cups chopped kale (I grabbed what I thought was a bunch of kale at the store because that's what the sign said, but it ended up being mustard leaves instead!  Thankfully they worked and didn't ruin the soup, but I would like to try it again with kale. Guess I have to pay attention to the names on the rubber bands around bunches!)
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1.  Brown bacon and sausage.  While cooking, break into small pieces.  Add onion and garlic once meat is mostly cooked and allow flavors to blend.
2.  Add meat mixture to crock pot once cooked.
3.  Add potatoes, stock/broth, and water to crock pot.
4.  Let cook on low for 3-4 hours.  (Like the cheeseburger soup, I wish my potatoes were more done, so I think I should have waited for the longer time here.)
5.  Add chopped kale, heavy cream, salt, and pepper.  Let cook an additional 1-2 hours and then turn down to warm to serve.

Overall, I think the soup turned out pretty good even though I had mustard leaves instead of kale and my potatoes weren't as soft as I would like them.  The soup did have a kick to it...not sure if that was from the sausage, crushed pepper flakes, or mustard (apparently it has a peppery flavor).  When I try this again, I think I will add my kale later so that it is still a bit crisp instead of limp and soggy.
 
We enjoyed our soup with garlic herb breadsticks that I found at Wal-Mart.  Yum!  Not quite like Olive Garden, but close :)