Clean Healthy Zuppa Toscana

Whole30, Paleo, Keto, Low-Carb, Dairy-Free, Sugar-free, Gluten-Free

This is the most deliciously creamy comfort food and it is super healthy to boot! I love Zuppa Toscana but traditionally it is so fatty with tons of cream and potatoes. In this version, I substituted white carrots for the potatoes ( you could also use turnips but I couldn’t find them at the market this time). After simmering, the white carrots had the exact texture of potatoes and you really can’t tell the difference! Except this dish becomes low carb, which a lot of us love and want!

The cream sauce is made from riced cauliflower, soaked cashews and chicken bone broth, that’s it! No butter, no cream yet it TOTALLY tastes like it’s full of the delicious but fattening stuff!

The sausage and bacon add just the right amount of flavor and salt, and the kale rounds it out with some healthy greens! It’s a great way to get some greens in because even if your kids don’t like greens, or think they don’t (mine act like I’m poisoning them if I give them any greens, but we are working on that!), this flavorful soup tastes so good that they will barely notice the greens, and really won’t believe they are eating 5 different veggies at once!!

I love this soup as well because it is SUPER easy to make (I freeze it in 2 cup Pyrex containers and it’s perfect for a quick healthy lunch!):

1. 1. Cook up the sausage and bacon in a big dutch oven pot, remove and set aside, leave about 2 Tablespoons of the fat
   2. Saute the onions and garlic in same pot
   3. Add the chicken broth and white carrots & simmer 20 minutes
   4. Blend up the cashews, cauliflower, plus a cup of the broth & add to pot
   5. Add the sausage, bacon & kale

AND THAT’S IT!

ENJOY!!

From upper left to right you have Curly Kale, Dinosaur Kale (Lacinato Tuscan), cashews soaked overnight, cut-up white carrots, bacon, garlic cloves, white onion, homemade bone broth, riced cauliflower and pink Himalayan sea salt…I forgot to include the yummy Italian sausage in this photo!

I had 2 kinds of kale because I wasn’t sure how much I would want to put in. I ended up using the darker one (Lacinato Tuscan Kale, aka “dinosaur kale”), which had the perfect texture! The other kind you see there is Curly Kale which is the most common type and you’ve probably seen it in your market! I got these beauties at Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark, CA where I took the boys to pick our own veggies! By the way, the farm is an awesome field trip if you live near Los Angeles!! The white onion is also from the farm!

• I did my soup with white carrots but the recipe I adapted this from, uses turnips. See Natalie’s creation at TastesLovely.com. My market didn’t have turnips so I tried these and they worked perfect! Use either and keep this dish really low-carb!

• Sauté the onions and garlic in the bacon drippings. It makes them soooo yummy!

• Add the chicken broth. I happen to have some frozen homemade bone broth that I defrosted and used for this soup, but you can use canned or boxed chicken broth as well. Homemade one broth does give you a ton of collagen and other healthy things, so if you can, use it!

• Add the cut carrots or turnips and simmer for about 20 minutes until they are fork-tender.

• While the soup starts to simmer, spoon a cup of the liquid into a blender with your 10 oz. of riced cauliflower and 3/4 cup soaked cashews, and blend it up!

• Add the cashew cream sauce to your simmering soup to give it that classic Tuscan creamy base, soooo good! Cashews make a cream sauce that is really indistinguishable from heavy cream and butter sauce but sooo much better for you!

We found this beautiful “dinosaur” kale at Underwood Farms and picked it right out of the ground. Very satisfying!

• You will wants to de-stem the kale because the stems can be really hard and fiberous which isn’t yummy in soup 🙂

Add the kale and the bacon to the simmering soup and stir in.

Freeze in these 2-cup Pyrex containers for a perfect quick lunch!

ENJOY!

Clean Healthy Zuppa Toscana-Whole30, Paleo, Keto, Low-Carb, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free

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• Author: Jill
• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 12 cups 1x
• Diet: Gluten Free

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Description

This is the most delicious and healthy Zuppa Toscana! It is Whole30, Paleo, Keto, Low-Carb, Dairy-free, Gluten-free and that’s a whole lotta healthy! You will be eating 5 veggies at once, along with healthy nuts and small amounts of the yummiest meats! It’s truly satisfying to make something so healthy that satisfies that “comfort food” happy place!

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Ingredients

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• 3/4 cup soaked cashews (soak for at least 2 hours, overnight if you can)
• 8 slices bacon (use sugar-free if you’re doing Whole30)
• 1 pound Italian sausage (mild or spicy, you choose!)
• 1 onion diced (yellow, white or brown, all are good int his soup so whatever you have!)
• 5 cloves garlic (mince or crush, I like to crush it using my garlic press better than mincing)
• 5 cups chicken stock (bone broth adds a ton of beautiful collagen if you have it)
• 2 cups white carrots or turnips diced to bite-size (use potatoes if you don’t mind the extra carbs!)
• 1 cup riced cauliflower (use the whole 10 oz. bag if that’s what you have)
• 1 bunch kale (de-stem and chop roughly)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Garnish with red pepper flakes if you like!

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Instructions

• Slice the BACON into 1 inch strips and fry it up in a large dutch oven pot, set aside.
• In same large pot, brown the ITALIAN SAUSAGE, set aside.
• Sauté ONIONS and GARLIC in same pot (with bacon and sausage bits), until translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add CHICKEN STOCK & CARROTS/TURNIPS to onions & garlic; simmer for 20 minutes.
• While soup simmers, blend RICED CAULIFLOWER, SOAKED CASHEWS & 1 cup of your hot CHICKEN STOCK in a blender or food processor; add to soup.
• Mix in the ITALIAN SAUSAGE, BACON & KALE.

Notes

• This soup is very thick and “creamy” even though there is no cream! If you like yours a little soupier, just add another cup of chicken stock or water and let it simmer in for a few minutes.
• If you forgot to soak your cashews, no worries, just boil 2 cups of water and let them sit in that for an hour. The point is just to soften them up.
• If you don’t like carrots or turnips and don’t mind the carbs, go ahead and add some large bite-size pieces of any type of potato you like.

• Prep Time: 20
• Cook Time: 30
• Category: Soup
• Cuisine: Italian

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