KrausnicKitchen

Soup #4 is a make-at-home version of Zuppa Toscana from the Olive Garden. We don’t go there often, but if we do I actually go for the soup, salad & breadsticks meal over every other dish. And that is mostly because of this soup. It is creamy and combines sweet Italian sausage, potatoes, and kale.

One drawback to this soup is that the health benefits of the kale are most likely negated by the high cream content and potatoes. I realize that my efforts to make this soup healthier are moot and that I’d be better served by just eating the kale and skipping the rest. 🙂 In any case, I still made the effort and was pleased with the results. It was wonderful.

I want to review my modifications before I get to the recipe. Feel free to adjust as needed. (The original recipe is found here at the Pioneer Woman blog). My modifications include:

Adjustment #1: Using turkey sausage instead of regular sausage.

Adjustment #2: Changing the dairy ratios. It’s a cream-based soup, which originally used 4 cups half-and-half, 2 cups whole milk, and a splash of heavy cream. I skipped the heavy cream and exchanged the measurements: 2 cups fat-free half-and-half and 4 cups 2% milk.

Adjustment #3: The original recipe didn’t address a cooking method for the onions. So I sauteed them after cooking the sausage.

I adored this big-batch soup and I hope your family will to.

Zuppa Toscana (Like the Olive Garden)

modified from the Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 2 bunches kale, picked over, cleaned, and torn into bite-sized pieces
• 12 whole red potatoes, cleaned and sliced thin
• 1 whole onion, chopped
• 1-1/2 pound Italian sausage (or sweet Italian turkey sausage)
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano, dried (or 1 tsp fresh)
• 1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
• black pepper to taste
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 4 cups whole milk
• 2 cups half-and-half (I used fat-free)
• Splash of heavy cream (I skipped this)
• Parmesan for sprinkling

Instructions