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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Knock Off

Hey everybody!  It has been awhile since I've posted and I'm SOOOO sorry about that.  I have been moving this past month into a new home and haven't been doing much cooking lately.  I finally got things settled this week and was able to make my first homemade meal in my new house, and I think I came up with a pretty good soup you are all going to love!


If you have ever had the soup, salad, and bread sticks, at Olive Garden, I'm sure you have tried their Zuppa Toscana soup.  It is by far my favorite, and for years I have wanted to try to make it.  Being that a lot of my pans were packed up and I only had my soup pot, I thought it was a great time to try.  This soup is their creamy, sausage and potato soup.  It's the perfect winter soup, but considering I love soup all the time; I could eat this on a 90 degree day.  Anyway, here is my version of the Olive Garden's amazing soup.  I hope you all like it!

Ingredients
1 lb. ground Mild Italian Sausage
3 Russet Potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
1 Onion, chopped
1/2 lb. Bacon, cooked, drained, and chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
2-3 cups Swiss Chard, chopped
28 oz. Chicken Broth
1 quart Water
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 tsp. Chicken Boullion
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. Basil
1 tsp. Parsley
1/4 tsp. Pepper

Directions
In a skillet cook your sausage. Remove sausage and in the drippings cook your garlic and onion until translucent, drain and set aside.
In a pot combine your chicken broth, water, chicken boullion, spices, potatoes, and cream.  Let cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat.  Add in remaining ingredients, except swiss chard.  Simmer on medium to low heat until potatoes are soft. About 30-45 minutes 
Once the potatoes are soft, add the swiss chard and let simmer for 30 minutes. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if needed.
Serve with some thick, crusty bread, and your set.  Enjoy!

4 comments:

  1. Okay so, a friend and I went to lunch today and guess where we ate? Yep. And guess what soup she ordered? Yep again. Actually, she orders it every time we go there so I was thinking about going online to find a copycat recipe of it. Then I turn on the computer and boom, you posted a recipe. Love how that works!!!

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  2. one of my favoritest soups of all time. love.

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  3. The soup is actually made with kale...

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  4. Thanks Melissa! Yeah, it's just a knock off version, not the actual recipe. I must have stated that wrong when I wrote it. So, not the real restaurant version, just the knock off recipe. Have a great day!

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