My New Favorite Soup

All this bad weather has had me thinking about soups. There's just something comforting about a big pot of yummy soup simmering away on the stove. My mother-in-law gave me this recipe around Christmas, and I loved it so much! My favorite soup at Olive Garden is the Zuppa Toscana, and this is a copy of that soup. It's taken from my favorite recipe site, http://www.allrecipes.com/. As a side note, if you are trying this recipe, I used way less of the red pepper flakes, and I also used the pre-cooked, crumbled bacon that you can buy in a bag (saves a few steps and has fewer calories). I cut the recipe in half, too, which fed my family with no leftovers--next time I'll make the whole recipe and keep the leftovers, so YUM!

Super-Delicious Zuppa Toscana

1 pound bulk mild Italian sausage
1 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
5 (13.75 ounce) cans chicken broth
6 potato, thinly sliced
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 bunch fresh spinach, tough stems removed

DIRECTIONS
Cook the Italian sausage and red pepper flakes in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crumbly, browned, and no longer pink, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Cook the bacon in the same Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain, leaving a few tablespoons of drippings with the bacon in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Stir in the onions and garlic; cook until onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
Pour the chicken broth into the Dutch oven with the bacon and onion mixture; bring to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes, and boil until fork tender, about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the heavy cream and the cooked sausage; heat through. Mix the spinach into the soup just before serving.