Tuscan Soup

This is DEEEEEELICIOUS!! Our friends made it for us once and ever since Mark's been on my back to get the recipe. Yes, you read that right, MARK wanted the recipe and that man never likes soup.  Then I made it while mom and Jim were here and they wanted the recipe. The other great thing: it's SUPER easy and pretty fast.

Ingredients:
-1lb spicy (hot) sausage
-3/4 c chopped onion
-1 slice bacon (or 2 tbsp bacon bits) (optional - I don't use it)
-1/2 tsp minced garlic
-1 quart water
-2 tbsp chicken bullion
-4-5 medium russet potatoes
-2 c (or more) chopped Kale (it looks like a lot, but it shrinks down tons. Next time I will use more.
-1 cup half and half (or heavy cream)

Directions:

-Chop everything ahead of time. Peel and chop potatoes into bite size pieces, dice onion and garlic, and chop kale. You can leave the kale in fairly large pieces, like you're preparing a salad.
-Heat a bit of EVOO in a large stock pot and saute onion and bacon until onion becomes translucent.   --Add garlic and saute for another minute or so.
-Add chopped potatoes, water, and bullion and simmer about 15-20 minutes until potatoes are tender.
-While it's simmering, brown sausage.
-When potatoes are tender add sausage, kale, and cream and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread or rolls. The left overs are great too!