Mickey Mouse Visits the House

So enough of my waxing eloquent about autumn. Football, baseball, cool weather. Blah blah blah. In the first place, the weather only stayed cool a couple of days, and has been near or above 80 most days since. Now I just feel foolish.

Plus, there is a lot about the fall that makes me cranky.

Every summer we have a bird feeder. Our feeder attracts the prettiest little birds – chickadees, house finches, wrens. Some bigger birds graze on the leftovers that fall to the earth. Squirrels too, but that’s a given. Anyway, I enjoy watching the little birds all summer long.

However, as with most things good, there is a down side. In this case, it’s the mice that appear around this time each year. They are apparently stocking up for the winter months, and they like the seeds that drop to the ground. I see them scurrying around, in and out of the rocks that make up the garden area in which our feeder is located. I really don’t mind seeing them running around outside. After all, they are God’s creatures too, and part of nature. But the other evening as I was sitting at my kitchen table near the back door, I looked out to see a tiny little mouse sitting just outside the door looking in at me. I half expected him to knock on the door and ask to come in. Perhaps I have been watching too much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with my grandkids. He did kind of look like this, however.

Anyway, all of my warm feelings about the sweet little mice being part of nature went out the window. I pounded heartily on the door and yelled, “Scram!” at the top of my lungs. He did. Probably through a tiny hole into my basement.

So it was time to set the traps. We started out with the old standby traps, but quickly learned that the squirrels are able to trip those bad boys and get the bait without a problem. So my husband sent me to the hardware store for Plan B, the covered traps. Squirrel-proof. Unfortunately, apparently our mice are too small to trip the traps, so they can just munch on the bait without a care in the world. I expected them to wave over at me and tell me thanks for the snack.

Finally, my husband sent me to the store for Plan C. (By the way, in case you are wondering why my husband is sending me to the store rather than going himself, it’s because he is in the final stages of a room remodel which has been going on for approximately 750 years. I am so ready for him to be done that I will do anything to keep him working. I would sleep for him at night if that was possible.) Anyway, Plan C is the sticky trap. I’m not even going to talk about that.

But I will talk about this delicious soup. It is a copycat version of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana, and I think it is very close. How can you go wrong with Italian sausage and cream in the same recipe. I got this recipe from Annie's Eats.

Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients
1 lb. Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. white wine to deglaze the pan
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
2 c. fresh kale, chopped
3 c. chicken broth
2-1/2 c. water
1 c. heavy cream
salt and pepper

Process
Place a large stockpot on the stove over medium heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan and cook until well browned. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and saute until tender, 5-7 min.

Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and cook for a minute more, just until fragrant. Add the wine to the pot and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Add the potatoes, kale, chicken broth and water to the pot. Return the sausage to the pot. Increase the heat to medium high, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender.

Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bon appetito! Don't leave any crumbs for the mice.