Saturday, March 7, 2009

Zuppa Toscana Soup


Absolutely delicious! My friend that lived in Italy for a year, brought this recipe to my attention. Now, there's not the load of veggies in here that I typically have in a dinner, so, as always, include a large raw salad with your dinner and you'll be set!

Zuppa Toscana Soup
1/2 lb of spicy ground sausage (nitrate free, of course - get this in the bulk meat section)
2 medium potatoes cut i half and then cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 Cups kale leaves, chopped up well
2 T chicken base or boullion
1 qt water
1/3 C heavy whipping cream (I skipped this entirely)
1/4 t crushed red pepper

Cook sausage then drain. Add chicken boullion, water, potatoes, kale, and cream. Simmer 1 hour. Then add:

1 T italian seasoning blend (or some basil, oregano, thyme etc.) (optional)
pepper flakes (optional)
1 t fennel seeds (optional)

Serve.
Again, the family loved this!

A member of the Brassica family, kale is a great food if you're looking to protect your health and enjoy a delicious food at the same time. It's the organosulfur compounds in this food that have been main subject of phytonutrient research, and these include the glucosinolates and the methyl cysteine sulfoxides.

Although there are over 100 different glucosinolates in plants, only 10-15 are present in kale and other Brassicas. Yet these 10-15 glucosinolates appear able to lessen the occurrence of a wide variety of cancers, including breast, lung, colon and ovarian cancers. Now, research published in the International Journal of Cancer (Zhao H, Lin J) suggests that bladder cancer can join the list.

No comments: