numero uno - 38 weeks and five days doesn't look so hot on me. i'll spare you the picture.

numero dos - my farmer. he's one lean and mean farmer...minus the mean part.

numero tres - my cooking (or lack there-of) in NO WAY correlates to his lean-ness. seriously.

numero quatro - i cooked last night. i cooked last night for the first time in a very VERY long time. and that's just the charm in me.

numero cinco - my farmer is a saint and takes me out for dinners a lot. or we just happen to stop by friend's houses, conveniently, around dinner time. (thank you: amy/ryan, will/julie, jake/walker, annie/jamon...i'm sure there are a few i'm forgetting.) or farmer and i sit on the floor and eat cream cheese and wheat thins. hey...it's what we do.

however, a few days ago i was sitting on the ol' iPad, pinning away on pinterest when i spied a recipe for zuppa toscana that you make right in your ol' crock pot...or on the stove. both work!

my farmer's motto when it comes to the crockpot - set it and forget it. (i just love when he says that.)

and boom - just like that, i made dinner. a soupy dinner, but dinner nonetheless.

I N G R E D I E N T S 
  • (1) cup heavy whipping cream
  • (1) pound italian sausage (i went with mild because my farmer doesn't do spicy.)
  • 16 oz. chicken stock
  • (1) onion
  • (2) large potatoes
  • (2) cups of kale or swiss chard (i did kale)
  • (2) cloves of garlic (i just scooped some out)
  • (1) quart of water (which i found out is actually 32 ounces. why didn't they just say 32 ounces? i probably just should have known the conversion, but i didn't. don't judge me.)
  • bacon bits - you can do these. i didn't. very optional.
so you gather all your little ingredients and immediately put the heavy whipping cream and the kale back in the fridge. apparently you don't need those for about 3 - 4 hours.

1 |  chop time
  • dice your onion
  • chop your potatoes - they said into 1/4 inch pieces, but i felt like i got good results from a thinner slice. they weren't mushy. they weren't crunchy. delish after about four hours of crockin'. (that's what we're calling it now - crockin'.)
 2 | cook your meat
 3 | add chopped ingredientses, meat, water, broth, and garlic to crock.
4 | set it and forget it - on high, for four hours.

5 | return four hours later and chop some more...delicious kale this time.
add the kale to the crock and set it and forget it - but only for about 10 - 20 minutes
take a crappy photo. perfect.

6 | now add your heavy whipping cream. forget to take a photo. perfect.

enjoy...

my farmer "ooo'd and ahhhh'd." i don't know if he really did enjoy it or if he was just employing the theory of positive reinforcement. but i will say, it felt good to cook something. and eat it. with my farmer.