Saturday, January 8, 2011

My Husband Fell in Love Tonight

Even though I can barely talk and haven't been able to talk most of the week, being the loving wife I am, I cooked dinner for Gary tonight.  I might should mention that he has been cooking for me all week.  Maybe he felt a little sorry for me since I have felt terrible this week, but I think the real reason is because I bought him a new electric smoker for Christmas.  If anyone needs any meat, we probably have it and it is probably already smoked for you! He has cooked pork chops, roast and baby back ribs so far and has a brisket that he is getting ready to go on tomorrow.  He is loving his new Bradley smoker. 

Back to me....well maybe not!  Gary loves the Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana.  It is a potato based soup with bacon and sausage in it.  I looked on Copy Kat Recipes and found one to make for him.  I did GOOD!
He LOVED it!  I ate one bowl and he ate one bowl.  Then he had a second bowl and after that this is what I saw.......


Just had to have a little more so he was eating out of the pan directly!  Glad there was no one else that wanted any! LOL  But wait!!!!!  He gets more desperate!!
Oh heck!  Just go for the whole thing.  Well, maybe he posed for that last one just to give you gals a laugh.  You know how he loves getting attention from the women.  Needless to say, the soup was all devoured and if we ever open a restaurant, this will be one of two soups served.  (He is always talking about what we will serve should we ever open one - which we are NOT ever going to do!!)

I will give you the recipe just in case you want to make your husband happy too!  Here is the brand of sausage I used.


Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
Yield: 8 servings (Guess Gary ate at least 6 of those, ha)

1 1/2 cup spicey sausage links
2 medium potatoes, cut in half lengthwise and then cut into 1/4" slices
3/4 cup diced onions
6 slices bacon
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups Kale leaves, cut in bite size pieces
2 Tablespoons chicken base
1 quart water
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Since my sausage were fully cooked, I sliced them in half lengthwise and grilled them for a few minutes.  Then I cut them in 1/2 inch slices.

While they are grilling, place onions and bacon in skillet and cook over medium heat until onions are almost clear.  Remove bacon and crumble.  (I used the pre-cooked bacon so I used a little olive oil in the pan to saute the onions.) Add garlic to the onions and cook an additional 1 minute.  Add chicken base, water, and potatoes.  Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  Add crumble bacon, sausage, kale and cream.  Simmer 4 minutes and serve.  I reserved some bacon for garnish.

Hope you enjoy this as much as HE  we did.  If you have a meat eater like I do, it is a hearty meal for him.

Have a Blessed Day!

1 comment:

  1. Looks pretty normal to me. He hasn't changed much since I moved out, HA.

    ReplyDelete