American•comfort

Slow Cooker Creamy Gnocchi Sausage Kale Soup

Slow Cooker Creamy Gnocchi Sausage Kale Soup is comfort in a bowl! Almost like a Zuppa Toscana with low fat options and full fat flavours!

Ingredients

1 lb ground hot Italian sausage (browned, or any other sausage - chicken, pork, beef or turkey)
1 onion (peeled and diced)
2 carrots (peeled and diced)
2 celery sticks (diced)
5 clove garlic (or 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic)
4 cup chicken broth (good-quality)
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp vegetable stock powder (like Vegeta, or chicken/beef bouillon powder — chicken adds better flavour)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp salt (adjust to your tastes)
1/3 tsp cracked black pepper, ((adjust to your tastes))
600 ml evaporated milk (or half and half, or reduced fat cream - full fat may also be used if not watching calorie intake)
3 heaping tablespoons cornstarch (mixed and dissolved well in 2 cups of milk, I use 2% milk)
1 lb fresh gnocchi (found in the fridge section of your supermarket)
4 cup shredded kale leaves, (stems removed (or baby spinach leaves),)
1 pinch salt (to taste)
1 pinch pepper (to taste)

1
Place the browned sausage, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, broth, Italian seasoning, Vegeta (or bouillon), onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper in a crockpot or slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8 hours.
2
Add the evaporated milk (or half and half or cream), milk/cornstarch mixture and gnocchi. Stir and replace cover. Cook another 30 minutes until the soup has thickened and the gnocchi has softened.
3
Add in the chopped kale (or spinach), cover for an extra 5 minutes or until just beginning to wilt.
4
Taste test and season with extra salt and pepper, if desired. Serve immediately with optional parmesan cheese and bacon. (If soup thickens too much when cold, just add extra milk in half cup increments until achieving desired consistency while warming it up to serve.)