This soup is similar to Zuppa Toscana at Olive Garden restaurants, but mine has diced cauliflower standing in for potatoes. I tend to use ground pork or my Homade Italian Sausage, rather than commercial Italian sausage, as I can control final sodium load as well as spices (and for fewer carbs) that way. You just need to add oregano, fennel and garlic really. But for convenience, you can certainly substitute in commercial Italian sausage if you prefer. It almost DOUBLES the sodium using the commercial sausage. Just be aware of that. This soup is delicious and we both gave it a resounding thumbs up. It will make the regular menu rounds at our house. 🙂
VARIATIONS: Substitute 1/2 c. chopped parsley for the kale; substitute diced rutabaga for the cauliflower.
INGREDIENTS:
6 slices bacon, cut into 3/4″ bits
12 oz. lean ground pork or Homemade Italian Sausage, coarsely broken up to 1/2″ chunks
2 oz. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1½ c. coarsely chopped kale (about 3 leaves after stemming)
3 oz. cauliflower, diced to ½”-3/4″ pieces
1 oz. pimiento (half a 2 oz. jar)
3 large mushrooms, sliced or cut however you like (optional)
4 c. homemade chicken broth (32 oz.)
1 c. water
1 c. heavy cream
Dash black pepper
Dash crushed red pepper
3-4 drops Tobasco
¼ tsp. dried oregano leaves
½ tsp. fennel seed, crushed
DIRECTIONS: In a large Dutch oven or soup pot over high heat, cook the bacon. Add the pork, onion and garlic and sauté until meat is no longer pink. Lower heat to medium. Add all remaining ingredients but the cream. Simmer 5 minutes. Add cream and simmer 5 more minutes. Thicken with xanthan or gum if desired. Serve at once.
NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes six 1-1¼c. servings, each contains:
356 cals, 30.5g fat, 5.51g carbs, 1.08g fiber, 4.43g NET CARBS, 15.6g protein, 865 mg sodium
Buttoni's Low-Carb Recipes 
The white daikon radishes are great in this soup for those who do not like cauliflower or want something different; they look like potatoes and have a good texture!
Yes! I have used daikon radish for a potato sub in soups and they are my preferred potato sub choice actually, but I didn’t have any on hand when I did this dish. My two local grocery stores never seem to carry daikon 😦 and I have to buy it when we drive over to Killeen/Ft. Hood Asian stores 20 miles away.
the ground pork , is it regular ground pork you get on the supermarket or is it a particular meat? how do you beak it up? thanks
I can buy it pre-ground at the grocery store. What I used in this was from my grass-fed beef supplier. He pasture raises his pigs and the ground I buy from him is a coarser grind but a little leaner than what I buy at the store. You could also grind your own chops or loin in a grinder (if you have one) or food processor. I have done that in a pinch.
Why do you show ingredients in ounces rather than cups. I don’t have a food scale so please tell me (i.e.) how much cauli is 3 oz.?
The reason is for carb/calorie/nutrient accuracy in the nutritional information provided, Marty. Low-carbers, if they are serious about the diet, need to get a cheap scale at Walmart. They can be had for a song. The reason for using weights is that everyone has the physical ability to cram a different amount into the cup (when left in chunks or chopped is a wide variance, too) Therefore the carb count would be wrong in every single case unless bloggers used weights. Couldn’t tell you the amount in cups if I wanted to right now, as I have used up the head of cauliflower I had on hand.
It’s going to sound weird, but plain little red radishes make an excellent alternative to potatoes in zuppa toscana. You don’t even have to peel them as most of the red leaves while cooking.
The zuppa toscana soup was always a favorite of mine and one of the first I made sure to make my own tasty low carb version of. Your recipe has some fun additions that I’m going to have to try now too. So thank you for sharing this!
Oh, they do indeed. Have used them, too. I’m just particularly fond of rutabaga. Today, when I created this for lunch, cauli was all I had on hand. 😉