Reducipe - Toscana Soup

Reducipe
Pronunciation: ri-doos-uh-pee
Function: noun
1 : a recipe that can help lower your food costs in a variety of ways
     a : by scaling back an expensive recipe to be less pricey but still just as tasty
     b : by turning an already inexpensive meal into something special
     c : by using leftovers in creative ways to stretch their use

Toscano Soup Toscana soup is one of my favorite cold weather soups and it’s so simple you won’t believe it. Eric really enjoys it and always wants me to make a big pot so he has plenty of leftovers. I particularly like to make this when I have some extra cream in the fridge I need to use up.

Whenever I go to the Olive Garden I always order a bowl of their Zuppa Toscana. It is the one dish I never pass up. I love the combination of creamy broth, tender potatoes, and zesty sausage. I decided to use those flavors as inspiration for this home-cooked version.

I like to think of this as a spicy and flavorful potato soup. The broth is amazing so don’t forget to get several loaves of crusty bread to soak it up with! You won’t be sorry!

Toscana Soup

6 cans (14.5 oz each) reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2-1 cup heavy cream
1/2 lb italian sausage (spicy preferred), casings removed
1 large yellow onion, diced
3-4 medium gold potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
Garlic Powder, to taste
Crushed red pepper, to taste
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Combine the chicken broth and heavy cream in a large soup pot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then add the potatoes.

Place a large skillet over medium heat. Break the Italian sausage into small pieces and add it to the pan. Once the sausage has rendered some fat add the onions. Sauté this mixture until the sausage is cooked through and the onions are translucent. Add the sausage and onion mixture to the broth mixture in the soup pot. Add a pinch of garlic powder and crushed red pepper, if you like it spicy.

Allow the soup to simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, taking care not to break up the potato slices. Season with kosher salt and black pepper and serve hot with plenty of crusty French bread. Serves 8-10 generously (break out the big bowls!)

Tips and tricks: Be sure not to add too much red pepper during the cooking process. If you go too heavy at the beginning it will be scorchingly hot after simmering 30 minutes. Eric actually likes it super spicy but I’m sure most would prefer it medium.

This soup is super flexible. If you want it less brothy simply use less broth and cream. You can make it lower in fat by reducing the cream and draining the sausage well. If you like more meat, add more. I like using gold potatoes for this because I think they are less likely to fall apart in the soup but you can use whatever potatoes you have on hand. It’s very forgiving. If you want to add something green (you know, to make it a little healthier) you can always add kale. I tend to like mine without it though.

Ingredient	Cost	Ingredient	Cost
Chicken Broth	$3.00	Onion	$0.87
Cream	$0.90	Potatoes	$1.24
Italian Sausage	$1.78	Spices	N/A
		Total	$7.79 or $0.78 a serving

Keep in mind that when I bought these ingredients I didn’t use coupons or sales so this is what it cost at “full price” for me. Imagine how inexpensive it could get if you made your own broth and used leftover cream and potatoes. Enjoy!

Smart Move Or Invitation For Junk Mail?

Is it really worth it? I have question for all of you out there.

When you buy a new appliance or product and it has a registration card, do you actually send it in?

I have TONS of registration cards that came in the product manuals for the new items in my home. Everything seems to ask for registration. All of the kitchen appliances, washer and dryer, window blinds, and garage door opener, just to name a few. Even the $10 vaporizer we got to help ease our colds a few weeks ago has a registration card to send in.

In the past, I rarely sent in registration cards, especially on smaller items. I didn’t want to lose out on the warranty but I was afraid it was just the first step to getting flooded with junk mail and advertisements. Looking at the registration cards for some of these products only seems to confirm that suspicion. Take for instance, the registration card for my GE cooktop. It says:

Win $2500! It’s easy. Just register your new appliance and your name will be entered in a monthly drawing for $2500.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I see things like this I immediately think there’s a catch. There almost always is. They must get some benefit from the registrations if they’re willing to pay a cash prize to encourage it. I suspect my information would be promptly sold to multiple lists and the onslaught of junk mail would begin. Something tells me they might not be so willing to spend $30,000 a year for these registrations if they were simply filing them away and not using that information in some lucrative manner.

Many of the registration cards ask intrusive questions that have nothing to do with their product. Some of it is for marketing reports and some of it is to determine what junk mail you might be receptive to. The registration for my toaster is an entire pamphlet, asking questions about my household income, education level, and if I enjoy cruises or stamp/coin collecting. My storm door registration wants to know what credit card brands I currently use, when I’m planning on buying a new car, and how many magazine subscriptions I have. I wonder why a storm door company wants to know if I’m interested in “moneymaking opportunities” or “casino gambling”.

On the back of these cards I spotted a small note in the teeniest tiniest lettering. It says:

Your answers will be used for market research studies and reports. They will also allow you to receive important mailings and special offers from a number of fine companies whose products and services relate directly to the specific interests, hobbies, and other information indicated above. Through this selective program, you will be able to obtain more information about activities in which you are involved and less about those in which you are not. Please check here if, for some reason, you prefer not to participate in this opportunity.

I love how it makes it sound like I’m going to be missing out on something awesome. Opting out by checking that box might stop some of the junk mail but I noticed that it says nothing about being able to opt out of the special offers sent from the company you are actually registering with.

Some of the cards seem rather forceful, saying I must register my product immediately but they don’t specify why. Some even give a deadline of 10 days from purchase. Yet, on the back of those same cards in tiny lettering it reads:

Failure to submit this registration will not diminish your warranty rights.

In fact, all of the cards have that wording so it’s clear that failing to register my products will not void the warranties on them.

So, what good does registering do? On a positive note, there does appear to be some benefits to registering your appliances.

If there is a recall or a safety problem with your particular model the company can contact you to let you know. Unless the recall makes the news you might not find out about it any other way.
If you need to have warranty work performed I’ve heard that having the product already registered helps speed up the process.
Registering your products can help identify your goods if they are stolen or destroyed. This can help by providing proof of the purchase for insurance. If all records/receipts were lost due to fire or flood this could come in handy for those expensive items.

This has me contemplating whether or not I should send in these cards, and if so, for what items.

I’m thinking that I may register the large kitchen appliances. I can see the potential for needing warranty work one day. The large appliances came with a standard 1-year warranty and the home builder included a 4-year extension. Because these appliances are big purchases and they have long warranties it may be worth registering them.

On the other hand, my toaster only has a 3-month warranty and that little vaporizer only cost me $10. It hardly seems worth it to me to register these items unless I want to receive potential recall notices. If the vaporizer breaks it would probably cost me more in time and shipping to get it replaced under warranty than to buy a new one. I think the risk of annoying junk mail outweighs the potential benefit of registering these items for me.

What do you do with your registration cards? Do you think it’s wise move to register your purchases or do you think it just isn’t worth it in the end?

My Resolutions: Getting Back On Track

Happy New Year 2008! I rarely do resolutions for the new year. Sure, I think of some of the things I’d like to accomplish going forward but I never formally write them down or even discuss them with others. This year I felt it was time to put them in writing. Many of my resolutions are financial and that makes sense after the last few months.

Here are my five resolutions for 2008:

1. I will track my spending for the months I let slide and I will pick up my normal budget tracking in January. I need to look at the numbers and see the actual damage from those moving months. I’m already predicting that the overage in my food budget from eating out all the time will be to blame for busting my budget. We will see once I crunch the numbers.

2. I will carefully monitor our budget in the next few months. This will help me get a better a feel of what our expenses really are in the new home. I have a estimated budget that I developed prior to moving but estimates are not necessarily accurate. The next few months will give me real figures for electricity, gas, and water and I will adjust the other areas of our budget accordingly to develop an actual working budget for the year.

3. I will get back to cooking and minimizing my food budget. No more fast food, period. I have already started on this resolution and I’m thrilled about it. We haven’t ordered a pizza or picked up fast food since for a few weeks now. The first thing I cooked in the new home was the budget breakfast sandwich. Christmas day was the first day I felt like I was starting to feel comfortable cooking in the new kitchen. I guess it takes a bit to adjust to the new layout and everything. I’ve even taken photos from my recent cooking adventures for a slew of new reducipes! I can’t wait to share them with you!

4. I will use coupons and start comparison shopping again. I will get back to my old routine of clipping coupons and comparison shopping. I will also start basing my meals and household purchases around the sales again in order to maximize my budget. It won’t feel good to have to toss all the expired coupons from my file but starting fresh can be a good thing.

5. I will make setting up my office area a priority so that I can comfortably keep track of the household and website. Right now, the only the kitchen and living room are close to being completely unpacked. I need to make unpacking my office area a top priority so that I feel like I can resume my old routine with ease. It’s hard to get back in the saddle when all your things are still in boxes.

So, now that you know my New Year’s resolutions, do you have any financial resolutions that you want to keep in 2008?

Image Source: Clearly Ambiguous

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