Zuppa Toscana Pink Style

We had another cold day here in Oregon...we had snow mixed with rain yesterday, not that we had any accumulation but it triggered that need in me for comfort food. Anyone else have that happen when it is cold outside? No, hmm maybe it is just me.  Well, because of the wonders of cauliflower I was able to make one of my favorite soups, Zuppa Toscana.

I first tried this soup at the Olive Garden which contains Italian sausage, potatoes and kale in a cream based broth, it is so good. Well, cream and potatoes in the volume they are in this soup are a no, no on PINK. I am pretty sure that the full fledged sausage called for in the original soup is also a no no. However by subbing cauliflower for the potatoes and cream in the original soup and using a lean turkey sausage, I can now enjoy my favorite soup again. Yippy! At the end of the post, I also will tell you how I make the soup for my family since they aren't as gung-ho about cauliflower as I am.

Zuppa Toscana PINK Style
1 head of cauliflower
1 white onion (you will used 1/3 for your soup, 2/3 for the family version)
1 20 ounce package of Italian style turkey sausage (you will use 4 ounces for your soup, the rest goes into the family version)
       -Note: I used the Foster Farm brand, it is just lean ground turkey,  mixed with the spices used in Italian  
                 Sausage. It does not come in a casing like a traditional sausage does. It is 96% fat free so I          
                 think it meets the requirements of PINK for lean ground turkey.
4 cups low sodium chicken broth (1 1/2 cup for pink version, 2 1/2 cups for the family version)
Kale
2 tsp chopped garlic
3/4 cup half and half (only for the family version, not the PINK version)

Method
Start by browning your ground turkey sausage. When it is cooked thoroughly pull out 4 ounces of the turkey sausage for your soup.

Chop up a head of cauliflower and your small onion.

Add your cauliflower, turkey sausage, garlic, 1/3 of your chopped onion and 1 1/2 cup chicken broth to your pan and let simmer until the cauliflower has softened.

Pull out about half of the cooked cauliflower along with a little bit of broth and blend in the blender. You are wanting to create a smooth paste, a little thinner than if you were making mashed cauliflower.

Take your mashed cauliflower and add it back into your soup. Stir it around. The mashed cauliflower when added to soup will give the soup/broth a creamy like consistency.

Chop up your kale, I ended up with about 2 cups and used 3/4 cup in the PINK friendly soup and added the rest to the family version.

Add your kale to your soup and stir to combine.

The heat from the soup will wilt the kale.

Spoon into a bowl and Enjoy!

Family Version
For the family version, you will make it the same as the PINK version except use potatoes instead of cauliflower.

Add potatoes, 2/3 chopped onion, garlic, ground turkey and chicken broth to a large pot and let simmer until the potatoes have softened.

Once the potatoes have softened, instead of making the cauliflower paste like you do above, simply add your half and half to give your soup a creamy consistency.

Add your Kale to your soup and stir so that the kale will wilt.

Spoon into  a bowl and let your family Enjoy!