Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup!

This is an awesome soup! I got this from an email (I think Frugal Girls) and pinned it. It looked so good that we went to the store and got the ingredients and made it! It is fantastic!

Thanks to 'Mom on Timeout' this is where I got the recipe:  http://www.momontimeout.com/2011/11/olive-garden-zuppa-toscana-soup.html?showComment=1325556554771#c109658344012945087

I didn't change any ingredients, but I'm not too keen on measuring...so here's my version:

Ingredients:
~1 pack Johnstonville Sweet Italian sausage (they didn't have the loose sausage, just squeeze it out of the casing)
~bacon - I just cut about an inch 'n a half off the pack of bacon perpendicular to the slices (hope that makes sense lol)
~1 onion
~about 10 cloves of garlic (I buy it already peeled in a jar and just pour it in the pot)
~about 5 medium russet potatoes
~1 container chicken broth (32 oz box)
~some water
~red pepper flakes
~heavy whipping cream
~kale
~Parmesan cheese

     First, I squeezed the sausage out of the casing and into the soup pot with the heat on about medium high to high. Then I put the bacon, a chopped onion and the whole garlic cloves and let it all saute' together until the sausage and bacon was done. I don't drain the fat...sorry, that's the way I am!

     While that was saute'ing (sp) I washed, peeled, and sliced the potatoes thin (like scalloped potatoes). I then added the tators to the pot and stirred so all that sausage and bacon fat was all over them! That sounds pretty gross, but makes it taste great!

     I didn't want the potatoes to fry, so I added the carton of broth and about two iced tea glasses of water. I also shook some red pepper flakes in the pot

     I let it simmer for about 30-45 minutes...I tasted the broth...it was good enough to eat right then!
While that was simmering I washed and cleaned the kale, then chopped it coursely. I used one bunch, and it was a lot more than two cups, but used it all anyway ;o)
     Now I added some heavy whipping cream (I asked Mark to get a little carton, but he got a quart...to have some for his coffee) so I don't really know exactly how much I added, but it was less than half of the carton.

   Next I added the kale, stirred it all, gave it a few minutes, then adjusted the seasonings. I added more pepper flakes and a little salt.

     OMG! The smells that were coming from this pot were awesome! I let that simmer another 30-45 minutes to let the kale wilt. In the meantime, I heated the oven and cooked some garlic bread.

     This is definately a keeper recipe! Thanks again to the Frugal Girls email and Mom on Timeout for such a wonderful recipe!

     I hope whoever comes to my blog and reads this will try this awesome soup...you won't be disappointed ;o)

Blessings to you,
~Denise