Kitchen Adventures #1

I love spending time in the kitchen cooking, baking, trying new things, etc.  It can be a big stress reliever...and fun!  For Christmas last year my Aunt Karen got me this awesome cookbook - "More Super Secret Restaurant Recipes" by Todd Wilbur.  It has fun recipes - everything from restaurant entree clones, to low fat clones, to drinks, and fast food clones.  There is a little bit of everything!  A few weeks ago I decided to make the reduced fat version of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana - one of our favorites!  It is very simple and quite tasty. 

Ingredients
.5 lb lean hot turkey Italian sausage
3 c fat-free chicken broth
3 c fat-free milk
2 T minced onion
1 T Hormel Real Bacon Pieces
1/4 t salt
pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 med russet potato, peeled
2 c chopped kale

1.  Grill or saute the sausage until cooked.
2. Combine the chicken broth, milk, onion, bacon, salt, and pepper flakes in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
3.  Quarter the potato lengthwise, then cut into 1/4-inch slices.  Add to the saucepan.  When mixture begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
4.  Cut the sausage at an angle into 1/4-inch thick slices.  Add the sausage to the saucepan.  Simmer for 1 hour or until potato slices begin to soften.
5.  Add the kale to the soup and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes until potatoes are soft.



In the midst of cooking!

In addition to the soup, I also tried out my Oster Breadmaker (a wedding gift) for the first time!  I tried out the recipe for French Bread, since I thought it would got well with the soup - and it did.



Final product!



It was a lovely meal - that served as leftovers for the next day :)  If you try out the recipe, let me know how you like it!