ZUPPA TOSCANA MADE HEALTHIER

A quick lunch at Olive Garden with my hubby while shopping at Christmas reminded me just how much I love their Zuppa Toscana.  There are many copycat recipes out there for this soup and most of them call for cream, etc.  I decided to give it a try "my way" using turkey sausage and 2% milk and the results were just delicious.

Once you have all your ingredients ready this is a very quick soup - my turkey sausage was in a meat carton not a roll so I just cut it with my knife into little cubes and cooked it that way so it came out with these nice little hunks - depending on your brand of sausage you may have to add a little olive oil to the pan when browning the sausage.

Back into the same pan the onion, the bacon and then when they are translucent...

add the garlic for a minute or two, just make sure to not burn the garlic.

 Slice your spuds in half and then into half moons.

Add in the chicken broth...

At this point I place the soup into a soup pot and cook until the potatoes are fork tender.

Add the milk and the Wondra flour...

Then the kale - I love that you may now purchase the kale in a bag, cleaned and chopped - how easy is that?

Ready for lunch with a little bread! Oh, so good on a cold winter day!

My head test pilot - hubby! Shhhh, he had no idea I took the photo! 

Recipe for lower calorie Zuppa Toscana Soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound turkey mild Italian sausage
• 4-5 medium russet potatoes, cut in half and then in half moons
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large white onion, chopped (or two medium)
• 4-5 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups kale or more, be sure and pack the kale down in your measure container
• 3 cups 2% milk, could use 1% or FF.
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 T of Costco crumbled bacon (30 cal per TBSP)
• 1 t red pepper flakes (you may omit if you do not like a bit of heat)
• 1-2 T Wondra Flour

Directions

1. Place Italian sausage in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat until browned on all sides. About 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. Add the onion and bacon, sauté until softened and translucent. 5-6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. During the last minute of cooking, add garlic and sauté, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn, will take a minute or two.
4. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until potatoes are fork tender.
5. Add 1-2 T Wondra flour to the milk and whisk until all smooth, add to the pot.
6. Return sausage to pot and add the kale. Cook until leaves are wilted and sausage is warmed through. 3 minutes.
7. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary
8. Ladle into serving bowls and serve immediately.

Cooks note:  Depending on the size of the potatoes, the amount of kale you add, you may have to add a little more chicken broth so you have sufficient broth to make this soup!

 Thank you for stopping by.