Zuppa Toscana

My little brother invited me and our sisters to have dinner with his new girlfriend.  We were all in a tizzy because he's our baby brother and this was his first girlfriend.  Of course, this was a big event for all of us!  Sometimes, I have to remind myself that having three older sisters could be daunting for him, but then I remember, we're so fun though!!

So he told us that her favorite was Italian food and we didn't want to scare her and take her to a fancy-schmancy place with $20 plates, so we decided on somewhere non-intimidating where the food was decent-Olive Garden.  Not my first choice, but this night was definitely not about me.

Needless to say, his girlfriend was a doll and very sweet.  We saw my brother and her holding hands under the table and it made us all sigh, young love!  So this post is dedicated to my little brother and this continual journey of finding your soul mate. 

Even though my entree was nothing to sing about, I did really enjoy Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana (and how can you not like the endless soup and bread sticks thing!)  So I was able to find a copycat recipe and I have to admit it was delicious and a soup I'll probably be making for a long time to come.

Olive Garden's Copycat Zuppa Toscana
Adapted from restaurant.food.com

1 lb Italian sausage or ground meat
2 large russet baking potatoes, sliced in half, and then in 1/4 inch slices
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups kale or 2 cups swiss chard, chopped
2 (8 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 quart water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
 

1) Take sausage out of casings (if there are any). Brown sausage in your soup pot.   Alternatively, if you just have some ground pork or chicken, you can use this and season with 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp chili flakes, and 1 tsp fennel seed.

2) Add chicken broth and water to pot and stir. 

3) Place onions, potatoes, and garlic in a separate pot.
4) Cook on medium heat until potatoes are done.
5) Add to your soup pot with sausage.
6) Salt and pepper to taste.
7) Simmer for another 10 minutes.
8) Turn to low heat.
9) Add kale and cream.
10) Heat through and serve.

Optional:  I added some spinach too for some extra veggies.  Wonderful!