Sizzlin’ Soup Series: Kale & Sausage Italian Zuppa

Zuppa???

Well, zuppa is Italian for soup, one of our cozy, tasty and savory favorites no matter what kind it is, especially when there’s cold out side! Welcome back to this week’s Sizzlin’ Soup Series, this week I am hosting the soup of the week.

For the next 5 weeks, we will be sharing with you our favorite cozy soups. Not to mention, each soup will use good, wholesome ingredients! At the end of the 6-week series, we will have a surprise for you.

*hint: it’s FREE* Any guesses?

To be sure you don’t miss out, consider subscribing to day2day joys, or any one of these participating blogs:
Leigh Ann @ Intentional by Grace (she hosted last week, check her soup out here)
Nikki @ Christian Mommy Blogger
Erin @ The Humbled Homemaker
Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy
Mindy @ The Purposed Heart

You may have heard of zuppa if you have ever dined in an Italian restaurant, whether it was in your home town or even in Italy. This is my rendition of the Italian favorite Zuppa Toscana, which can be made creamy or not, spicy or not and fabulous or ….just joking! The rendition is not creamy or spicy, but is fabulous.  Ask anyone, I don’t do super spicy, I’m a wimp, you make it as spicy as you want!

What you Need:

4 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
homemade chicken broth
2/3 c regular sausage
2 nitrite/nitrate free spicy cajan sausage links
3-4 strips of nitrite/nitrate free bacon, chopped
4 handfuls of kale
1 TBS crushed red pepper
1/2 c heavy cream or milk
season with salt (and pepper if needed but probably won’t need it)

*note: the spicy cajun is SPICY, so this would also we great made with Italian sausage for those wimps out there! 

What to Do:

  1. Saute all of the meats in a stock pan, once they are browned, add in the diced onion, garlic, crushed and red pepper, mix 
  2. Pour in the chicken broth and the heavy cream, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium- low
  3. Add the potatoes and the handfuls of kale
  4. Cover and continuing cooking until potatoes are softened (about 20+ minutes)
  5. Serve in a bowl and enjoy! (add a dollop of sour cream if it’s too spicy… I did that, but remember I am a wimp!)

Hope you enjoy this soup! Let me know if you are a wimp too! 😉 Be sure to check back next week; Nikki over at Christian Mommy Blogger will be serving you up a fantastic sizzlin’ soup you’ll love!

Have you been sizzlin’ up any soup at your house this week?

About Rachel

Rachel is a mother to four children and a wife to a wellness doctor. Her passions are faith, family, and health. You can find her writing about her family adventures and inspiring you to make healthier choices for your family.

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  1. […] up at a nearby drop point. Eat in-season fruits and vegetables for maximum savings When you buy foods that are in-season, you can get them fresh and full of nutrients! Alternatively, you can freeze extra fruits and […]

  2. […] the summertime it is so natural to consume lots of fresh fruits and vegetables!  The warm weather, farmer’s markets and picnics in the park all call for fresh fruit and vegetable salads.  However, winter comes […]

5 Benefits of Eating with the Seasons

Written by Jenna, Contributing Writer

“If you could do just one thing for your health it would be to make seasonal, farm-fresh produce the center of your diet.” — Preston Maring, M.D.

Eating in season may not be a new concept for you. It is for me. At my local grocer, I see strawberries in the winter and winter squash in the summer and think, “cool”, but instead I should be asking “how?”. It wasn’t until recently as I’ve learned more about clean and healthy eating that when we decide to eat with the seasons there are many facets to it’s benefits.

Seasonal eating is based on purchasing foods during their natural growing times. If you’ve never thought about choosing foods based on the seasons, I encourage you to start now. Here are a few thoughts on why eating seasonally is right for you and your family.

1. Fresh is just best.
Have you ever looked on the label of that pint of strawberries you just bought? Many times those foods are traveling thousands of miles to get to you. What exactly does that mean for the quality of the food? A lot! First of all, they are generally picked early before they ripen and therefore, their nutritional content is much, much lower. According to Brian Halweil, author of Eat Here: Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket, “If you harvest something early so that it can endure a long distance shipping experience, it’s not going to have the full complement of nutrients it might have had.” Second, if they are not organic, they are covered in preservatives and pesticides to get where they’re going and still look good to you the consumer. If you are able, purchase in season foods when they are abundant and freeze them for later which also does not significantly diminish the nutritional value of produce.

2. In season = better health.
Seasonal foods also pack the biggest nutritional punch. When you purposefully choose foods that are in season for your particular region, you will be healthier. Since produce starts to lose nutrients shortly after being picked, out of season options will have lower nutritional values. Preston Maring, M.D., the associate physician-in-chief at Kaiser Permanente’s Oakland hospital says, “If we can just get people to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, we can really impact people’s health.”

3. It helps you know your neighbor.
Buying locally when foods are in season is the ideal way to shop for produce. You begin to know who is growing the food you are eating and have a sense of supporting those working hard in your community. The authors of Simply in Season remind us that “before the advent of modern transportation and storage systems, eating locally grown food was the norm – as it still is in many parts of the world.” They also go on to say that “we have become distant in our food and not just in terms of geography. Who grows our food? What are their lives like? Each food purchase we make is like a vote for the way we want food to be produced – and for the world in which we live.” So buy locally when you can so that your area farmers can continue their great work.

4. Buying in season makes your wallet happy.
This is just the basic law of supply and demand. When there is more of something it will cost less, when there is less you will usually pay the price. Author Judi Gerber of the website care2 says, “If you buy items that are not in season, you pay a premium for them. How so? That basket of peaches you buy during winter can cost twice as much as it would if you buy it when peaches are in season locally. Having those
South American peaches transported halfway around the world shows up in your food bill, not to mention it is very environmentally unfriendly.” Keep this in mind as you shop during the peak harvesting seasons.

5. It strengthens our palates.
The plain fact is when you buy food that is in season plus purchased as close to your front door as possible, it is going to taste fresher and better. Professional chef Kurt Michael Friese states, “When we eat out of season — gobbling shipped-in strawberries in January, for instance — the taste degrades: ‘Our palate weakens just as our eyesight would if left in the dark for too long.'” Be choosy with your food. Don’t eat whatever, whenever… chose the best.

Here is a list of foods that are in season in your region, just skip over to this Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) site and plug in your state and the month you’d like.

For more information on eating in season, here is a list of links you might be interested in:
The Locavore app :: find what is in season in a snap with your smartphone.
Simply in Season cookbook :: get inspired to eat in season and locally by these amazing stories along with healthy recipes. Also available for purchase on Amazon here.
Local Harvest :: for a list of farmer’s markets and organic food near to you.
Eating Well in Season: The Farmers’ Market Cookbook
Perpetual Produce Calendar :: gives a list of produce in season for your particular region.
Eat Here: Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket

Do you eat with the seasons?

Jenna is a happy wife to Brian and a full-time mom to 4 boys. She is a follower of Christ, a researcher and an aspiring blogger, foodie and lover of all things healthy. 

Join her at Wholesome Bits and connect with her on Facebook.

*Linked to: Women Living WellHomemaking LinkupTraditional TuesdaysTitus 2sdaysWorks for Me,  Simple Lives Thursday, Encourage One Another

About Rachel

Rachel is a mother to four children and a wife to a wellness doctor. Her passions are faith, family, and health. You can find her writing about her family adventures and inspiring you to make healthier choices for your family.

Comments

  1. Great Post, Jenna! I definitely need to start eating seasonally! It is much easier on the budget! ~Angela

  2. Although I don’t always eat 100% in season, I definitely agree that it’s the best way to go. Great post, Jenna! 🙂

  3. Thanks for the great post, Jenna! I agree that in season is best! It is harder in the winter months (b/c I can’t seem to go long without some of my favorites–haha!), but I strive to do it even then. Thanks for the reminders!

  4. I also need to do this more! I caved and bought some “out of season” fruit the other day for Lincoln because he was begging for it… who knows how many miles it took to get shipped here.

  5. Thanks for reading the post today everyone! I think sometimes we see winter as a bad time for eating fresh produce, but really it can force us to explore options like pomegranates, root veggies, beets, brussel sprouts, and definitely the citrus fruits… that I don’t generally run toward in the store. I think that’s how God designed us – to be in rhythm with how he created things. The reason for this post was b/c I did pick up some strawberries the other day and read that they came from Cali… I’m in Ohio… it got my mind going… 🙂

  6. I would love for you to link this info up to my Famous Linkz Party! http://www.made-famous-by.com

    Hugs,
    Heather aka Made Famous By

  7. I do love eating in season, although I don’t strictly 100% avoid out-of-season produce. I’ve found, though, that the off-season produce does not taste nearly as good as fresh and in-season. Part of my problem is that my husband cannot eat a lot of the fruits and vegetables that are in season through the winter, other than the root vegetables, so we get kind of stuck.

  8. Jenna, It does make sense to eat with the seasons. We have grown our own food (much of it, produce-wise) and so we are forced to follow the flow of god’s design. Thank you for your nice post!

  9. Hi Jenna! Thanks for writing this great post on eating with the seasons, if you know my blog you’d see I am a total advocate of the same principles as you spell out here so beautifully. Thank you.
    I’m hosting a weekly linky over at Natural Mothers Network which is all about seasonal celebration and would love it if you popped over and linked this post! It would be great to introduce your blog to my subscribers! Seasonal Celebration Linky http://naturalmothersnetwork.com/seasonal-celebration-sunday/seasonal-celebration/ Really hope to see you there! Rebecca x