Zuppa Toscana

This is a copy of Olive Garden's soup. Yum!
(can't remember where I got it - sorry!)

Ingredients
1 lb Italian sausage
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 large diced white onion
4 Tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 c water
5 cubes chicken bouillon
1 c heavy cream
1 lb sliced Russet potatoes
1/4 of a bunch of kale

Directions:

Saute sausage and red pepper and drain off excess fat.

In the same pan, saute bacon, onions and garlic over low to medium heat for approx 15 minutes or until the onions are soft.

Heat boullion and water until boiling.

Add sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.

Pour in heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.

Stir in sausage and kale, heat thoroughly and serve.

The red pepper can make it a bit hot, so use less if you don't want a lot of heat. I usually add quite a bit of kale because I like it and its the good-for-you part!

Thimbleanna posted a similar recipe the other day that has kielbasa instead of sausage and doesn't have the cream added. Sounds good to me as well - its on my to-try list. I'm all about soups right now, and I probably shouldn't be eating cream anyway, since I still need to lose weight and the baby doesn't much like my eating dairy yet.

Sorry that there's no photo - the little one is teething and he was tired and fussing when we made this the other night. I was too lazy to get a photo of it. My table isn't clean anyway. Ha!