Zuppa Toscana soup

I finally decided to harvest the potatoes from the plants that I planted on March 31st. As you can see, the plants had flowers on them. My neighbor thought that I should harvest them when the potato plants start to die off.
As you can see, there were nine potatoes plus the starter potato. The potato plant had split into two so I replanted the two potato plants again. It may seem extremely frugal to grow potato plants since potatoes are so cheap anyway. Last year, I replanted the one potato plant three times throughout the summer. I can not explain why I like the texture of the homegrown potatoes so much. The potatoes are just taste creamier. The bonus is my kids like to pull up the plant and see the potatoes attached to them. Since it rained today, I felt like making soup. I had all the ingredients to make this Zuppa Toscana soup.

2 brats, boiled for 20 mins, and slice thinly
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces1 large onion, diced 1 tablespoon minced garlic 5 (13.75 ounce) cans chicken broth 6 potato, thinly sliced 1 can evaporated milk1 cup of fat free half/half
1 tsp Italian seasoning1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 bunch fresh spinach, tough stems removedAfter scrubbing the potatoes, in a bowl of water, add thinly sliced potatoes. Cook for 6 minutes in the microwave. If the potatoes are not tender enough, cook another minute in the microwave.
While the potatoes are cooking, saute chopped bacon for 10 minutes. Add the bacon to chicken broth. Use the bacon fat to saute the chopped onions for 6 minutes or until they are tender. Add the rest of the ingredients to the crock pot on low until you are ready to serve.