With the cold weather upon us, I've been on a soup kick these days! From chili, to tomato, to potato, to squash....the list goes on and on! But I recently tried a new soup recipe that I just HAD to share! It's like potato soup with a kick!! Some may know this as the divine zuppa toscana from the Olive Garden (I've personally never had it there, but I've heard its praises from many who have). My friend makes it regularly and was nice enough to share her recipe with me...and I'm forever grateful to her for it!! I tweaked it to my own liking (as you can do also), but I highly recommend you try this soup recipe on the next cold day that comes your way! It's healthy, delicious and sure to warm you up!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs spicy sausage (you could opt to use regular sausage if you don't like spicy)
- 1/2 onion- chopped
- 1 leek- chopped
- 2 Tbsp garlic- minced or chopped
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 12-15 red skin potatoes (either chopped into bite size pieces or thinly sliced...your preference, but leave skins on)
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups half and half (you can use milk for a less fattening version, but I believe in splurging on stuff like this...life is too short!!!)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 bunch of kale- torn or chopped into bite size shreds (if you don't like kale, you can use spinach as a substitute)
- Add butter, onion and leeks to a medium or large pot. Saute on medium heat until tender.
- Add sausage, garlic, salt and pepper to onion leek mixture...heat until sausage is browned.
- Add broth and half and half, along with potatoes.
- Simmer on a medium to low heat until potatoes are cooked thoroughly. (check potatoes with a fork for softness)
- Add kale. (you don't need to cook the kale, just stir it in and it will wilt)
For the warp, cut 1-inch-wide loops from the bodies of one or two tees (we found a boy's large worked best on our 33-inch hoop), removing the hem and stopping at the sleeves. Ideally these loops should all be the same color; we used two colors for clarity in our photographs. You'll need a total of 11 loops. For the weft, cut at least 50 loops from the remaining shirts. Save the unused sleeves for the basket project.
Stretch one warp loop over the hula hoop, as shown.
Add and secure a second loop, perpendicular to the first.
Repeat, filling in the spaces, until all 11 loops are in place.
Push together two warp loops at the top of the hula hoop, as shown. This creates an odd number of warp spokes in your wheel, which allows the overunder pattern of the weft to alternate with each new row.
Secure the first weft loop to the center of one of the warp spokes (we chose the doubled spoke from step 5) by wrapping it around the warp and then looping it back through itself.
Begin weaving the weft over and under the warp spokes, forming a tight spiral. For now, treat both parts of each warp spoke as a single unit, weaving over or under the two together. As you work, push the weft material toward the center of the hoop and keep it just snug. If you pull the weft tight, the rug will develop lumps or bends. When you reach the end of the piece of weft, add a new loop by threading it through the end of the first and back through itself.
When your rug is about 8 inches across, begin treating each warp spoke as two individual strips instead of a single unit, weaving over or under each strand instead of going over or under the doubled spoke. This increases the number of warp spokes, improving the structure of the project. When you get to the two warp spokes that you pushed together at the top of the loom, separate them. Treat one of the spokes as two individual strips, but continue to treat the other as a single spoke. This maintains the odd number of warp spokes.
When the rug is the size you want, but no closer than 8 inches from the edge of the hula hoop, snip open your weft loop.
Tie the ends around a warp spoke, and tuck the ends into the rug.
Tie the ends in pairs, then trim them to make a fringe or tuck them back into the rug.
