Recipe: Homemade Croutons & Zuppa Toscana Soup*

This time of year I start thinking about salad—green salad, pasta salad, and even potato salad with bright carrots and baby peas.  It’s a little too soon to picture rows of beans and tomatoes in my garden, but unlike our ancestors who relied on farming for food, we have fresh produce available all year long, and in so many varieties.  

Lately everyone’s been talking about the “super food” vegetable, Kale. (One cup of chopped kale contains 33 calories and 9% of the daily value of calcium, 206% of vitamin A, 134% of vitamin C, and a whopping 684% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus). Generally a bit pricey, Kale is on sale this week at Lee’s for only $1.50 a bunch.  My mom likes to make Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana soup that features Kale, which is really the only way I had ever eaten it.  But a week or so ago I bought a bunch and sautéed it with some olive oil and fresh garlic. The boys liked it quite a bit, and I could almost feel those vitamins and minerals coursing through our veins like Popeye after he eats his spinach!  I was so energized after dinner that I cleaned the whole house, did six batches of laundry, then made dozens of freezer meals to take to the sick.  Ha ha, not really.  But I did summon up the gumption to wash the dishes—after resting awhile.

That whole Kale narrative really had nothing to do with what I wanted to say about salad, which is that I have a great recipe for Homemade Croutons which you can make with any leftover buns or rolls or from the discounted day-old breads at the store.  It only takes a few minutes to throw them together and they’re so much better than those you buy in bags at the store—and much more economical too.  They keep quite a while in a zip lock bag, and are delicious to have instead of crackers in soup (We had some on the Cheesy Asparagus Soup I made for dinner last night). 

Homemade Croutons

-1 loaf French bread OR equivalent of any kind of leftover rolls or buns cut with electric knife or sharp bread knife into crouton-sized cubes.

-In small saucepan melt ½ cup (1 stick) butter.

-Add 1 teaspoon garlic salt, ½ teaspoon onion salt, ½ teaspoon celery salt, ½ teaspoon ground thyme, ½ teaspoon rubbed sage

-Stir seasonings into melted butter and toss with the cubes of bread in a large bowl.  Mix evenly.  Pour onto cookie sheet or other baking pan.  (If you have a large baking pan with sides, it helps keep them from spilling out when you stir them).

-Bake at 250 degrees for about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so until desired crispiness.  Cool and store in air tight container.  

Zuppa Toscana

1 lb Jimmy Dean or Tennessee Pride mild Sausage
3 large cloves garlic, diced

4 Chicken Bouillon Cubes dissolved in ½ cup water

4 to 6 medium Russet Potatoes, sliced about ½” thick into rounds with skins left on

1 chopped onion

1 bunch Kale leaves, washed well and chopped coarsely (remove thick stems)

3 cans Swanson Chicken Broth

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup cream

½ cup milk

Parmesan Cheese

Brown sausage and onion together and drain well.  In large pot, simmer all ingredients (except kale, cream, milk, and parmesan) until potatoes are tender, but not falling apart.  Turn heat to low and add cream and milk.  Taste and add salt and/or pepper if needed.  Add the kale and simmer another minute (if you think there’s more kale than you want, don’t add it all).  Parmesan can be added as desired to individual bowls.

*Originally distributed March 2014