I love Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana. My brother does, too. He would experiment with the copycat recipes once in awhile and he showed me how to make it a long time back now. I still make it anytime it's soup climate. I think I finally got it right this time.
Zuppa ToscanaServes 2-3 people
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
2 sliced thick-cut bacon (pepper-rubbed), chopped
1/2 lb. spicy Italian sausage meat
2 qt. low sodium chicken stock
1 chicken stock cube (Maggi)
2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 large leaves of kale, chopped
1 cup heavy cream (optional)
Directions:
1. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil on medium-high. Add the garlic and onion to sauté.
2. Add the bacon and stir around.
3. Add the sausage and break it up as you cook it.
4. Once it's cooked, add the chicken stock and the cube. Bring to a boil.
5. Add the potatoes, and set the temperature back to medium high to cook the potatoes.
6. Test the potatoes' doneness. When it's done, turn the heat off, and add the kale.
7. When you're ready to eat, you can add the cream as much as you like to your bowl of soup.
I had the urge to make strawberry cupcakes. Part of it is that it's a good way to procrastinate doing any school work. Heh heh! I used the recipe I found on Martha Stewart's website. I used Sprinkles' strawberry frosting recipe. I split the recipe in half because I didn't have enough powdered sugar, but it make the perfect amount. The fresh strawberry puree in the frosting made this lovely soft pink color with little red freckles of strawberry bits. It's sweet but you can taste the fresh strawberries.
