Soup Swap!

• Last Sunday I spent the day with some of the most amazing women and their soup recipes. Kinda fun bringing everyone's favorites together, and being able to have wonderful soup every day last week!
  
  Here is the recipe I shared with the group (my twist on a friends recipe she obtained at a cooking class given at the Bellingham Technical College by Cindy McKinney).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Minestrone with Sausage & Tortellini Soup:
  

• 12-16 ounce Italian sausage links (instructed recommended John Morrel which is carried at Costco)


• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced


• 2 stalks celery, chopped


• 3 carrots, sliced


• 1 pepper (red or green), chopped
  
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tsp dried)


• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning (or a handful of assorted fresh herbs)


• pinch of red peeper flakes


• 8 cups of chicken stock


• 1~28 ounce can of diced tomatoes (can use basil or oregano flavored kind)


• 1~8 ounce can of tomato sauce (plain spaghetti sauce works too)
  
• 4 cups assorted veggies of choice ( zucchini, green beans, corn, peas, etc...)


• 2 cups sliced fresh spinach or other greens


• 2~16 ounce cans of drained beans of choice (white beans, kidney beans, etc...)
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound cheese tortellini (or 6-8 ounce dry pasta~may need a little more broth) (Rosetto pasta was recommended)
• *Optional~1 tbsp pesto

Cook sausages. Remove from pan, cool and slice. (She sliced her first). Add olive oil to sausage drippings. Saute onion, celery, carrot and pepper about 10 minutes. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and Italian seasoning. Saute 1 minute more. Add chicken broth, tomatoes, sausages, and any additional veggies (if using frozen, see below). Bring to boil, turn down and simmer until veggies are tender (about 20 minutes). Add beans, spinach, tortellini and pest. Cook 10 more minutes.

*If using frozen or leftover veggies, add during last 10 minutes of cooking time along with beans, etc...

Pointers:

1. Lots of leniency in this recipe~add what you like, omit what you don't like, substitute.
2. Red pepper can easily be omitted if you don't like them.
3. Don't add minced garlic with onion, because it burns.
4. Reduced the amount of liquids used if using a crockpot (5 cups broth instead of 8). You can always add more water later. Raw pasta soaks up a lot of water.