Olive Garden may not be my favorite restaurant chain in the world, but going for lunch and the unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks and choosing their Zuppa Toscana is well worth the trip! This soup can be made with meat (chicken or pork), using vegetarian sausage, or even vegan if you use a non dairy milk. It’s warm and tasty and healthy and everyone in my family devours it and requests it regularly when they are Daily Chef, including the 3 year old! What a tasty way to eat Kale.
Ingredients:
1-2 T olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced fine
½ tsp crushed red chiles or to taste
½ pound spicy Italian sausage: pork, chicken, or vegetarian (I like Beyond Sausage)
1 large bunch kale, tough stems removed and chopped roughly
2-3 Large or 4-5 small potatoes: russet, red, yellow, purple) cut in half longways, and sliced in ¼” slices
½ tsp black pepper
Dash of nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
½ tsp of salt or to taste
8 cups veggie or chicken broth
½ c whole milk, ½ and ½ or cream
Prepare all ingredients and have next to the stove. Heat oil in dutch oven or other large stock pot until warm and sauté onion till soft and caramelized, 5-7min. Add garlic and crushed red chilies and cook for 1 minute more.
Add in the sausage, breaking it up as you go or break it into pieces as you add it to the pot. Sauté till browned, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
When first added 
After sautéing a few minutes 
Better than Bouillon rocks
Toss in the kale, sautéing till bright green. It will look like a lot, but will quickly wilt down. Add the pepper, salt, and dash of nutmeg. Toss in the potatoes and add the broth.
Bring to a simmer till well combined and potatoes are tender about 20 minutes. Off the heat stir in the milk, ½ and ½ or cream. Taste and adjust seasonings, serve, and enjoy!
