Really though, I like to go to the Olive Garden and eat their delicious Zuppa Toscana soup. So when I came across a recipe online for the soup in question, I sprang on it. You can find the actual recipe here at Tuscan Recipes, but below you'll read my instructions for making it a little better and in the Crock-pot.
The ingredients are:
1lb. ground Italian sausage (or regular sausage if you don't want too much of a kick)
1.5 tsp of crushed red pepper
Onion powder
Bacon bits
2 tsp of garlic puree (or some garlic powder - both are good options)
10 cups of water
5 chicken bullion cubes (you can find this in the Mexican food section if you're having trouble finding it)
1 cup of heavy whipping cream (kept near the milk)
1 or so lb of potatoes (see instructions for how to prepare them)
Kale (as much as you'd like, but at least 1/4 of a bunch...however much that is)
1. Brown the sausage in a frying pan and get it cooked at least most of the way through (I prefer to have it all the way cooked).
2. Put ten cups of water into a six-quart Crock-Pot (you can probably go as low as four-quart) along with the five bullion cubes. You can stir it all around as it heats, but due to the property of diffusion, it will slowly mix on its own during the cooking process. I still recommend giving it a stir.
3. Take all the potatoes that you plan on adding and wash and peel them. Rinse them again after peeling, and then take out your cutting board and a large, sharp knife. Here you have a choice: you can thinly slice the potatoes into circles, or you can cut the potatoes in half before slicing the potatoes into semicircles. Alternatively, you can dice the potatoes. You just don't want round slices to be too thick. This soup values thin slicing.
4. Add the potatoes, the cream, and all of the ingredients except for the kale. Stir it all together, then heat on low for about six hours. You can kind of wing it on this step. This is the beauty of a slow-cooker. You can just kind of wing it most of the time!
5. About an hour before you're ready to serve the soup, wash and cut the kale and then add it to the soup. Again, you can kind of wing it here. I can't recall whether I added the kale late the last time I made this soup, but what I do know is that it worked.
If you're going to make this soup for just one person, you need to halve the recipe. You'll be eating it for a week that way. I recommend that you make this soup and serve it to your family, roommates, or neighbors. It makes a TON, so if you live around a bunch of people you like, share the wealth.
Because I encourage single men to pay attention to my blog and its recipes, I recommend getting some roommates or friends together and then invite some women over to eat this soup with you. If you make some breadsticks (which I may just post a roll recipe soon) and serve them on the side, you'll have kind of a half meal. You could serve this soup with grilled cheese, salad, or something else that women like. Believe it or not, women LOVE grilled cheese sandwiches, given they're not lactose intolerant.
By the way, if you don't own a Crock-pot yet, go buy one! You can find them at thrift stores for cheap, or at a place like Sam's Club for as little as $35 for a super nice one! Here's a picture of the Crock-pot I own.
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