It’s a fairly mild day here in Pittsburgh (despite almost being December) and while the weather is so-so, I felt as though today would be perfect for soup.

My favorite chain restaurant soup, without a doubt, is the Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana. Traditionally, it is a slightly creamy, brothed soup with italian sausage, russet potatoes, and slightly wilted kale. The taste is absolutely delicious, and so I decided to recreate it at home.  Since I’m working towards eating vegan, I figured this would be a great dish to test with.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 and 1/2 vegetable bouillon cubes, whisked into 6 cups of hot water
1 tube of Gimme Lean ground “sausage” (I could only find the breakfast kind, so I used this)
3 small russet potatoes
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
1 cup of milk substitute (I had rice milk on hand so I used that)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less depending on your spice preference)
1/2 tbsp italian seasoning (I used this because I didn’t have the Gimme Lean italian flavor)
2 tbsp Earth Balance
2 cups of sliced kale
salt and pepper to taste

First, I collected all of your ingredients! Not pictured here are the Earth Balance, salt, pepper, and italian seasoning.

Chop up the onion and add it to a large pan with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add a pinch of salt to help the onions sweat their natural liquids and become transparent.

While the onions are sweating, combine one cup of hot water with the vegetable bouillon cubes and whisk until the liquid is clear.

After the onions have successfully sweated out their juices and are transparent, stir in the crushed red pepper flakes, garlic, and italian seasoning.

Next, stir in the tube of “sausage.” It was a bit tough to break up, so you might want to use a whisk or potato masher to make even pieces!

Then, add in your one cup of hot water with the bouillon, as well as an additional 5 cups of water. Make sure to scrape all of the little bits off of the bottom of the pan as well, there is some good flavor in there!

Next, slice up the potatoes into half inch medallions. If you’re not going to be using them within the next 15 minutes, soak them in salt water to prevent them from browning
Add in the rice milk (or another milk substitute). Bring soup to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Carefully drop the potatoes into the broth (don’t get splashed with hot liquid like I did..:P). Simmer the soup for about a half hour, or until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Drop in the Earth Balance (or other butter substitute), as well as the chopped kale.

The kale will only take a few minutes to cook, around three minutes. Look at that color! I served this with a toasted mult-grain bun for some dippage action!

Overall, I feel as though the soup was a major success! The flavors were very on par with what I experienced at the Olive Garden. Do beware, with the amount of crushed red pepper that is used. Let’s just say a little goes a long way! Don’t forget to taste along the way to prevent over seasoning. Remember, you can always put in, but you can’t take out! Also, this soup can be made with regular, non-vegan ingredients, so don’t get your panties in a bunch!

I’m about to head to bed and read a few chapters from my current nerd read, The End of Overeating. Bonne nuit, mes amis!

Is there a food you miss having since eating vegan? Have you tried making it? Would you like me to try making it? Leave a response in the comments below!