ciao olive garden

For those of you that are hardcore Olive Garden lovers, and I know you are out there, let me make myself clear - I believe that the Olive Garden is a perfectly fine establishment. Buuuuut, and you know this is coming because of my well thought out title, we should all face it that there are indeed other Italian restaurants that could (and do) trump it. For purposes of my sanity and the likelihood that "Olive Garden" will repeat itself many times in this post, let's just be cool and abbreviate ok?

Many years of my life were spent passionately loving OG. I would often think of it first when the whole "so where do you want to eat question?" arose. However, as I grew older and more aware of myself and my tendencies, I realized every time we went I was planning my meal around one thing and one thing only. Sure I would check out the seafood pasta, which was my favorite course, and I'd browse the menu for other yummy (and yet sort of mediocre) Italian dishes. But when that server approached the table I had one very important question for him or her, one that would make or break what I would order for that evening. "What sides come with that?" If they said that it didn't come with a side, well then I would drop that sucker like I was never interested. So why the drama, why so bent on the side?

Two words.

Zuppa Toscana. 

Yes. YES. Just typing it made me salivate. In a somewhat average Italian restaurant, this beautiful representation of excellence in soup form is what brought me to the OG for years. I knew it, but I didn't want to admit that it was truly the only reason I went. This raises another question, well it should because this is supposed to be really suspenseful and draw you in...WHY am I saying goodbye? How could I when I clearly have this deep, passionate attachment to this sausagey, potatoey goodness. Well, hold on a second. 

On a seemingly random note...my husband is awesome. Chris is one of those rare breeds of man that loves to cook. Because he loves to cook, and quite honestly is much better at it than me, he follows some food blogs. Like any true foodie does. Recently he has been e-mailing recipes he is interested in us making. He sent me one a couple weeks ago from The Pioneer Woman (to whom we already owe plenty of life changing meal experiences). As I began to browse this recipe, I thought to myself "this looks like it's similar to Zuppa Toscana". And then as if I predicted her next sentence, Pioneer Woman wrote "this is an at-home version of the Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana". 

Whhhhhaaaaattt? 

A flood of thoughts rush my brain. This can't be as good. It's probably an awful knock-off wanna be the best soup in the world failure of a recipe. This could change my life. This is a reliable source of good eats. Perhaps she's not lying when she says she will save me lots of money and trips to OG. Then BAM. Final conclusion. I would never have to go to the OG again and pretend like I loved anything else besides this soup. My soup. I was exhausted. So I went out and bought all the ingredients. 

Was it awesome? Well, I was hesitant as I took the first few bites. It was milky. I was disappointed. Again, husband back on scene with his save-the-day cooking skills. He threw in a whole crap load of different spices.  I tried again and it was friggin awesome. And here is one of the best parts...it lasted us for FIVE WHOLE MEALS. and it got better with time. I'd actually recommend anyone that wants to make it to make it the day before because each day it just got better and better and better. 

We are obsessed. It will probably be a soup we have for a long time, like with the kids and grandkids long time. And I no longer have to go to OG just to buy other food when all I really want is a gallon of soup. If it was socially acceptable I would ask for six to eight refills, when in reality I feel awkward after two and I haven't touched my pasta. No more. It exists in my very own kitchen. 

Thank you Pioneer Woman, thank you food blogging husband, and thank  you Olive Garden for giving me a reason to even try.