Low Carb Zuppa Toscana Soup

In my last post I mentioned that I had eaten leftover a low carb version of Zuppa Toscana soup. I wouldn't not give you the recipe after mentioning a new favorite of mine. 

So here it goes, but it does come with a story I have to share with you...

My husband and I enjoy having people over, which we don't do nearly as often as we'd like. Babies. They ruin things sometimes. But that's a bad excuse. 

Anyway, since we are moving I wanted to have my parents over for dinner at our current house one last time. 

My parents are usually the ones to host all of the family dinners. They have the equipment and serveware to do it all. Plus, all of us kids get a free meal out of the deal.

So having them over isn't really a big deal, but it is kind of ... if you get what I'm trying to say. Since they are always serving us food, I like to return the favor every now and again. 

With that said, I was excited to try out this low carb Zuppa Toscana soup for them. I planned out a very Olive Garden-y meal, not that I really love Olive Garden all that much to begin with, but I figured if I had their soup I may as well do it up. 

I made their dressing from scratch, had their croutons and pepprochini peppers, and I even had buttery garlic breadsticks, which never happens. And, of course, I made the soup to go along with everything. 

After the meal was cooked, ready to go, I realized that my parents are Scandinavian. 

Not that they wouldn't eat Italian food. But this soup has a bit of a punch of spice. And my Norwegian and Swedish parents haven't even quite gotten down the use of salt and pepper yet [love you Mom!]. 

I was just hoping that they'd roll with it and end up enjoying it. 

We all sat down for dinner and dove into the meal. I started with the salad and hadn't quite had a big scoop of the soup at this point. 

My mom seems to be handling it ok. She says she likes it. Cool.  

Then I look over at my dear ol' dad.

He starts sniffling. 

Drinks a sip of water. 

Takes a bite of salad, a bite of a breadstick, all in an effort to tame this spicy soup. 

He's struggling. Definitely not enjoying this soup like I had hoped. 

He didn't admit to being overwhelmed by the spice initially, but on his way out he did say that he was sorry he couldn't finish the soup - that there was something that packed a punch in there! 

 Fail. 

At least his sinuses are all cleared out now. 

[And he would absolutely hate that I just told you this. So it's our little secret!]  

I felt pretty bad, to be honest. I should have offered him a peanut butter sandwich or something. 

With that, here's my warning: If you're not used to spicy foods, please beware! 

Or you can always swap out the spicy Italian sausage for mild sausage. I'll probably do that the next time I serve this for company. 


Now for the recipe: 

{Adapted from Low Carb Yum} 

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pound bulk hot sausage (or mild)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 74 fluid ounces chicken broth
• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped in bite-size pieces
• 10 ounce package chopped frozen spinach, thawed and the water squeezed out a bit
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 6 slices cooked bacon, chopped
• 1-2 teaspoons salt (adjust to taste)
• ground black pepper

Directions

1. Brown sausage with onion and garlic in butter or oil in large pot (6-8 quart).
2. Add broth and bring to a boil.
3. Stir in chopped cauliflower and spinach. Simmer until cauliflower is tender.
4. Mix in cream and bacon. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

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Enjoy!