Potato Soup

Olive Garden has a soup on their menu called Zuppa Toscana- a delicious potato soup with Italian sausage, what could be better? Stephen and I were having friends over last week and I wanted to do something different than the ole standby (spaghetti, chicken enchiladas or tacos, etc.) So I decided to get a little more creative. A friend of mine (thank you Kristyn, you ROCK) posted the recipe to Pioneer Woman's cheesy muffins- oh LORD they are out of this WORLD! She recommended that potato soup is the perfect compliment to the muffins, so of course, that is what I made!  Really, this is one of the only dishes I have made in a long time that we actually ate every single drop of leftovers. You HAVE to make this dish, and of course make the cheesy muffins to go with it! The recipe below makes enough for 8-12 servings, depending on the size of your eaters.

2 lbs Italian Sausage (I used mild)

1-2 bunches of kale, torn into small pieces

10 potatoes, cut into thin rounds

4 cups half and half

3 cups chicken broth

3 cups milk

salt and pepper

2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 large onion, chopped

2 tablespoons of heavy cream (why not?)

Directions:

• In a large pot, saute the onions until they are tender. Then add the Italian Sausage and brown. In my case, the Italian sausage came in casings so I had to remove the sausage from the casings prior to browning. If you can find Italian sausage just ground up- awesome!
• When the meat is brown, add all of your liquids (except the heavy cream) and seasonings, let cook 3-5 minutes. 
• Then add all of your potatoes that have been sliced. If you want more potatoes, add more. I liked having a little more potatoes to make the soup thicker.
• Let cook until the potatoes are al dente (slightly firm and has a little "bite" to them)
• About 5-10 minutes before you want to serve, add the kale and let it cook
• Serve it up!