I stole this from Olive Garden

The last 100 times I've gone to Olive Garden, I've said to the waiter/waitress: "soup, salad and breadsticks, please, and yes I'd like a mountain of cheese - on everything!". Standard fare was always the minestrone, but just once I was intrigued or bored and decided to try one of the other soups offered.

Zuppa Toscana - yummy! Little bits of sausage and potato floating around with just enough red pepper flakes to zing your tongue. I didn't really think the waiter at Olive Garden would be so obliging as to ask the cook for the recipe, so I went to http://www.allrecipes.com/ and typed in the name, and sure enough - here it is: Super-Delicious Zuppa Toscana

"If you love Zuppa Toscana at your local chain Italian restaurant, you'll adore this soup. On a cold day you are sure to be warmed all the way down to your toes."

1 pound bulk mild italian sausage
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large onion, diced
1 Tbsp minced garlic
5 cans chicken broth
6 potatoes, peels left on, thinly sliced
1 can cream of anything soup
1/2 box of frozen spinach

(My changes to the above: I used frozen meatballs, cut into fourths, and added four slices of leftover meatloaf from two nights ago, chopped up. I used dried onion flakes. I used chicken bouillon cubes, four of them with 4 cups of water. I peeled my potatoes - so a few changes.)

Directions:
To a large crockpot add the sausage, red pepper flakes, onion flakes, garlic and set on low.

Dissolve chicken bouillon cubes in hot water. Add to crockpot along with the potatoes. One hour before serving add the can of soup and frozen spinach. I bet you won't taste the difference between this one and O.G.'s version! This should be a soup hearty enough to please most husbands, especially if you serve some breadsticks, salad on the side and cheese on everything!

So drag out your crockpot, put this on to cook. Then go for a nice walk and listen to the rustle of the leaves. We have some type of soup or stew every Monday night, then one of us settles in to watch the football game tonight, and one of us grabs her knitting.