Mmmm.... soup.

It's going to be a long week. Like, a really long week. I'm looking at 15+ hour days once you combine school, work and homework/projects. I'm definitely not looking forward to it, and I'm also not looking forward to trusting the boys to cook. And I am NOT willing to order pizza and eat hot dogs every night. I'm so very much over my poor college student days. You see, I live with pretty much all men. My husband, of course, a male roommate, 2 male dogs and a male cat. It's them against me and my pretty girl cat. Needless to say we're outnumbered. Granted the pets don't really have a say in what we eat for dinner...

I am not a food snob. I prefer real food that has to be, you know, cooked. Prepared. Not necessarily ridiculously healthy, but it has to have substance. A hot dog on a bun with ketchup does not count as a meat, a starch, and a vegetable in my book. Besides, tomatoes are a fruit.

So, tonight being my early evening, I decided to prep one of my go-to, last me most of the week, pretty much delicious meals. For those of you who have been to Olive Garden, you've probably tried their Zuppa Toscana. And, if you haven't, you're a terrible person. It's amazing. A few years back I found a basic recipe online for this soup and (like with everything I cook) I tweaked it to my liking. It is delicious, hearty and impossible to get bored of. Pair this with some breadsticks and you've got yourself a mouth watering meal!

So here's the recipe. I apologize for the lack of photos. I have 3 cameras (with multiple batteries) and it turns out all of them were pretty dead. It was very disappointing. I guess I'll just have to paint a picture with my words!   ;)

Not from the most recent batch, but soup nonetheless.

  Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cook time: 45-50 minutes 

What you'll need:

• 1 1/2 lb ground Italian sausage
• 6 slices of bacon
• 1½ tsp crushed red peppers
• ¼ of a bunch of kale
• 1 large sized diced white onion
• 1 1/2 lb sliced potatoes,  about 4-5 large potatoes
• 1 tbs garlic puree
• 4 cups water
• 6 cups of chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream

 A little explanation:



Now, the original recipe called for less Italian sausage (1lb) and bacon (4 tbs, how is that enough???) but I'm a bit of a carnivore so I always add more. It also called for 10 cups of water and 5 chicken bouillon cubs. I figured that one sort of dumb so I just add straight chicken broth. Actually, if you want to mix it up a little you can add 1/2 chicken broth and 1/2 beef broth. It gives it a bit of a different flavor. Also, because I'm unhealthy like that, I add an extra potato or two. What can I say, I like hearty soups with a lot of stuff in them. I guess it's more like a stew in this case... Whatever. 

On to the cooking!:

1. In a large stock pot cook up the Italian sausage and the red pepper until all the pinkish color is gone from the sausage. Pretty much like browning hamburger meat. Strain out all of the fat and place the mixture aside while you prep the rest of the soup. It's going to be a little bit until you add the sausage so I recommend just tossing it in the fridge.
2. Now, using the same stock pot, cook up with bacon with the onions and garlic on a medium heat. Once the onions are soft and beginning to look translucent you should be good to go. This usually takes 10-15 minutes.
3. Leave the previous mixture in the stock pot and add the chicken broth and and water. Bring this to a boil.
4. Then add the potatoes and cook, almost boiling, until they are soft. Like you would making mashed potatoes if you happen to be familiar. Generally this step will take 30 minutes of so.
5. Once the potatoes are soft add the heavy cream and heat the soup back to boiling.
6. Lastly, toss in your sausage mixture and the kale and heat until everything is at the desired temperature. It usually takes me about 10 minutes to get it back up to where I like it, granted I like my food HOT.
7. Eat your soup! Easy enough, right? If you want to be fancy you can grate some parmesan on top.  =)

 And, because I don't have a legitimate picture of the soup, I leave you with a picture of something equally impressive... My puppies all pretty and clean after their baths!