My friend Jamie made this soup for us a while back, and I wasn't sure I would like it because it has garbanzo beans, and I'm not much of a garbanzo bean kind of person. BUT, it is such a great blend of flavors that I happily filled my tummy to the brim with this soup and didn't even mind the fact that it didn't have the usual cream the soup calls for. In fact, I dare to say this version is my favorite... Jamie, you win!
All games aside, Jamie is an amazing cook, and I can't wait to blog his version of white lasagna which we were invited to try last night and it BLEW me away.. I woke up counting down the minutes until leftovers for lunch..ahh I digress, with that said here's the Katie version of  the new and improved payanx version of zuppa toscana.

1 medium onion chopped
1 bay leaf
3 Hot Italian Sausages (usually they come in 1lb. pkg I used 1/2 and froze the remainder, also if you aren't a spicy kind of person just opt for a mild spice)
2  chopped/minced garlic
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 tablespoon EVOO
1 32oz carton of chicken stock
1 15oz can of garbanzo beans rinsed
6 roughly chopped fingerling potatoes OR 1 large russet diced with skin ON ( chopped about the size of a large grape)
3-4 cups of washed/roughly chopped kale: I buy the prepackaged Trader Joe's Kale.. save yourself the time! You use 1/2 the bag.

In a large stock pot on medium heat sautee EVOO, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaf. Let onion get slightly transulcent, add spicy sausage and use the spoon to break apart the sausage. When sausage has cooked, add chopped potatoes, chicken broth and garbanzos. Let this come to a boil allowing the potatoes to fully cook. Turn heat to LOW and add chopped kale, cover with a lid and let the steam soften the kale, mix it a few times over so the kale can get covered in broth. Simmer on low until you are ready to serve.
Before you serve it make sure to DISCARD the BAY LEAF.

Simmering and ready to be devoured!

I have to thank my awesome neighbor Terry for letting us use their pizza stone. I'm convinced I need one now! :) So in case you haven't noticed my neighbors are simply amazing people I'm lucky enough to call friends. Terry always lets me borrow random kitchen utensils and what not. He often makes dinner for him and his fiancé Jen, and if Marc is out of town on business, will bring me over dinner, or coffee, or dessert.... how blessed are Marc and I?!?! Anyway he's an awesome friend!
I told him what I had planned to make for dinner and he said "do you want to borrow our pizza stone?!" YESSSSSSS I dooooo!! :)

I bought everything from Trader Joe's (am I getting commission yet on how much I endorse them!?!) pre-made, down to the dough, their garlic & herb dough is amaze amaze amaze. Anyway the assembly is pretty easy once you have the ingredients, I'd have to highly encourage buying fresh yummy ingredients... that makes all the difference.

What you will need:
1 package Trader Joe's garlic & herb pizza dough
1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar of pizza sauce
1 firm large tomato on the vine (or any tomato you wish to use)
1 package of FRESH basil
flour- its needed for dough... and for the pizza stone.
**optional: shredded fresh parmesan cheese, I had some on hand and figured I'd use it.. who doesn't love extra cheese

Before oven..

So I left the oven on 400 (as called for on the dough) and placed stone in for 15 minutes.
As a heads up, the dough needs to sit on a surface sprinkled with flour for about 20 mins before you use it... if you don't it's no biggie, but when it's cold it is tougher to work with, rather than when it's been sitting at room temp. I rolled out the dough to the best circle I could possibly make.  Then took about 10-15 leaves of basil and sliced them, also sliced the tomato in fairly thin slices. Then I took the stone out, sprinkled a bit of flour on it and placed the dough on it, poured sauce on evenly, sprinkled cheese, sprinkled generously the chopped basil, placed tomatoes around the pizza to cover all basil, and sprinkled some fresh parmesan on top and into the oven for about 15 minutes or until the dough was golden brown.

After oven... YUM!

I paired this with a spinach salad... it was delicious!! There were NO leftovers... :(

So my neighbor Fulya makes this amazing spinach salad.. truly it changed my mind about spinach salad. She's from Turkey and has shared quite a few things she's made with us. So,after having her salad I tried to make it at home.. because as sweet as she is I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate me asking her to make salad every week.  It's not as good as hers.. but its as close as I can get.. and it's the only way I can eat spinach salad now!

Spinach Salad:
3 or 4 cups of spinach (I buy it pre-washed/cleaned/trimmed)
1/2 teaspoon of dried DILL weed
2 1/2 tablespoons of EVOO.. I bought a flavored EVOO at a EVOO bar and can't go back to plain for this salad- Roasted Onion & Cilantro EVOO... amaaaaazing
pinch of salad/pepper to taste
3 tablespoons of feta cheese
1 green onion "chive" chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 cup diced english cucumber (if you have plain old cucumber that works too)
**optional: olives, now I personally don't like olives but if you bought some really great high quality ones I'm sure it would be delish!

So assembly is quite easy. Place spinach in glass bowl, pour EVOO in, dash of salt pepper, dill, feta, diced cucumber and green onion (I didn't have any today, taste fine w/out but I love it when I do) and toss a few times.

It's super fresh and so healthy! Salad is obviously easy, but just thought I'd share this delicious salad I adapted from a wonderful friend.