Toscana Soup – Roots and Rest | Holistic Health Coach

I was originally planning on doing a homemade bread recipe today but I decided to move that to tomorrow and do this Toscana soup instead. Apparently, this soup is a favorite from Olive Garden! If you’ve had it at Olive Garden you should let me know how this compares to it. I did end up switching up the ingredients a bit to make this recipe dairy-free but I will make sure write in the original ingredients as well. I hope you’re all surviving this quarantine and enjoying this extra time with your family. If all else fails, cook something! A good meal makes everything better. 😉

Here are all of the ingredients! If you don’t have an ingredient, don’t worry! Get creative. Switch out the russet potatoes for golden, the coconut milk with any kind of milk or cream and the kale for spinach.

Here is the soup once it’s all done! I enjoy this soup so much. I’ve been eating it quite frequently lately and I’m still not tired of it.

INGREDIENTS:
2 tsp olive oil
1 lb Italian Sausage
4 oz bacon (about 4-6 slices)
1 small onion, diced
1 1/2 liters of low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups of water
2 Large Russet potatoes, diced
1 1/2 tsp Coconut sugar or regular sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup of coconut milk (solid from a can) or 2 cups of whole milk
1 1/2 cups packed chopped kale

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: Heat olive oil in a large non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat. Crumble sausage into pieces and add to saucepan.

Step 2: Cook sausage, stirring occasionally until cooked through. Drain sausage onto a plate or baking dish lined with paper towels, set sausage aside.

Step 3: Add diced bacon to the saucepan, return to heat and saute 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add diced onions and saute the mixture until bacon is cooked through and onions are translucent, about 3 – 5 minutes longer.

Step 4: Add chicken broth, water, sliced potatoes, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and stir in cooked sausage. Cover saucepan and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are nearly tender, about 10 – 15 minutes.

Step 5: Add in kale then simmer until potatoes are soft and kale is tender, about 5 – 10 minutes longer. Stir in the coconut milk and warm through. Use a spoon or ladle to remove excess fat from top of the soup, if desired. Serve and enjoy!