Vegetarian Tuscan Soup recipe!

Everyone, foodie or not, likes a little Olive Garden once in a while. It's easy to like - creamy, salty and sometimes fried comfort food. While I gave up their entree's a while ago, I am quite addicted to their Zuppa Toscana soup -- a delicious cream-based soup with potato, kale, and Italian sausage.

Being vegetarian off and on throughout the years (currently it's on, and has stuck for longer than ever), this soup was always my weakness. A friend of mine passed this recipe along to me, and though it may not be Olive Garden's exact recipe, it tastes IDENTICAL.

I'll post the actual recipe as sent to me at the end, but will now post my entirely vegetarian recipe of this delicious dish!

What you'll need:

- 5 vegetarian chicken bouillon cubes. I got mine at a local market called New Seasons, which is similar to Whole Foods. Most fine grocery stores should carry it
-1/4 head of kale, washed and chopped as desired, stalks removed
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 10 cups water
- 1 lb. veggie sausage/ground beef
- 1 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
- 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 large onion, diced OR 2 medium sized shallots (I prefer the latter)
- 1 lb. slived Russet potatoes, or 3 large potatoes

What to do:

1. Start by mincing and dicing your shallot/onion and your garlic. Sautee these in a large pot until the onion/shallot become soft. Onions take a teeny bit longer than shallots to cook, in my experience at least.

2. Add the vegetarian "chicken" bouillon and the water and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft. I found this took about 20-25 minutes on a medium heat

4. While you're doing this, cook your vegetarian meat you will be using. Honestly, this recipe doesn't really need it and is hearty enough without it, but if you're so inclined, brown the veggie meat/sausage in a separate pan with the red pepper flakes. Set aside.

5. Stir the heavy cream into the water/bouillon/garlic/shallot mix.

6. Finally stir in veggie meat and toss in your chopped kale.

Give it a good stir and allow it to heat for a few minutes, serve and enjoy!

It turned out wonderful and I can't wait to make it again! This particular recipe makes 6-8 servings, so I had PLENTY of leftovers.

As promised, here is the non-vegetarian version. Click here.