Our January Whole30 group officially started 9 days ago and I have to say – these ladies are impressive! All the meals they’re posting in our private Facebook group look incredible, they’re asking great questions, and are finally starting to feel some of those Whole30 non-sclae victories we rave about. I’m already so impressed with their progress and we’re only one-third of the way through. It always lights me up to watch people put the time and effort into this program and then see their excitement when their belly bloat diminishes, they sleep like a baby, have more energy and their clothes start to fit better. It will never get old to me watching how food can literally transform our health in a big way.
Each time I coach a round of Whole30, I provide a full 30-day meal plan with recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, but I encourage everyone to find other Whole30 compliant recipes along the way too. About 5 years ago I had a client share a recipe for Zuppa Toscana with our group, and it was a total hit. Something about sausage, potatoes, kale, and bacon in a creamy broth just sounds delicious, doesn’t it?
I always participate in the Whole30 when I’m coaching a group, and since we’re doing this round in the dead of Winter, I’m craving all the warm and comforting soup recipes. Soups are also great recipes to batch cook on Sundays when you have some extra time and can be great lunch options for a busy work week. Or you can make it ahead of time and freeze it for nights that you just need a break from cooking.
When I put together my brand new group coaching experience for our September Whole30, I found a version of Zuppa Toscana from 40 Aprons and have honestly made it about a dozen times since then. At this point, I’ve kind of made the recipe my own and added a few extras that I find make all the difference. The nice thing about soup recipes is that they are fairly forgiving and you can play with the spices to adjust the taste to your own liking. Another reason I love this recipe is that it can be adjusted to make it a low FODMAP recipe. Even when you eliminate the garlic and onion to make it low FODMAP it still has plenty of flavour from the other herbs and spices in the recipe.
One last thing that really *makes* this recipe is adding cut up sausage links and ground Italian sausage. It makes it extra chunky and so filling. Plus, I always add a bit of arrowroot starch to make the broth just a bit thicker along with a can of full-fat coconut milk. If you’ve never made this soup before, you need to give it a try. Whole30 approved and a total crowd-pleaser too!