Hello all,

I'm William J. Bivens (very new here). In my application to join this network I was asked what dish I liked to prepare and I responded with "Tuscan Soup". Well, in an email Tony inquired about it and I responded to his email and then he asked if I would share this in the recipe section of the network. Well, in a nutshell, here's my responce to Tony's request.

This is not really "My" recipe, there really isn't any actual "recipe" it's just a take off of a restaurant chain's soup called "Zuppa Toscana" (sp?). Not being any kind of "accomplished" cook, I just took off the shelf ingredients and stirred.

Reduced Sodium Low Fat Chicken Broth/Stock
Spicey Italian Sausage
Potatoes
Greens (I use chop spinach added at the end)
Mushrooms
Onions (diced and saut'ed)
Garlic
(additional red pepper flakes if desired)

Ingredient quantities depend on the number of people you plan to feed.

For just my wife and I, I use two containers of broth/stock, three or four links of spicey sausage (skin the sausage if not using bulk, then saut'e with the onions, mushrooms and garlic), cook two or three largish potatoes in the broth/stock ("I" like potatoes ), add the sausage mixture (drained of grease of course) after the potatoes are cooked, then wilt the chopped greens just before serving.

We each have a very large bowl, along with crusty bread drizzled with good quality EVOO (garlic infused) and sprinkled with freshly grated pecorino romano cheese. The remaining soup (about four bowls worth) is then frozen for easy meal prep at a later date.

I am still experimenting (adding other things or leaving them out). My wife really dislikes potatoe so, for her bennefit, I use sweet potaoes and she loves it. Along that vein, at some point I'm going to use chicken or turkey instead of sausage just for the fun of it.

(Hmmmm... omit the sausage, use turkey and sweet potatoes, and serve over a large scoop of dressing... could be a great Thanksgiving Day soup.)

I slowly came to realize that "Tuscan" cooking is just an Italian "country" style of cooking (sort of the home style cooking of the south here in the states only in Italy). It's just a matter of ingredients and seasonings that make it one or the other.

Experiment and make it your own "Tuscan" soup.

williamj