Friday, November 06, 2009

Italian Sausage & Vegetable Soup


i am totally laughing as i post this picture because it SO does not look appetizing to me. if i had known earlier that i would be blogging about this soup, i would have taken a much more appealing picture. the soup in this photo is the leftovers from dinner already in its tupperware bowl, ready for the fridge. i decided to blog about this soup not because i thought it was delicious....i knew i'd love it just from reading the recipe. i decided to blog about this soup because my dear husband thought it was delicious. and that's saying a lot!

it was simmering away on the stove when he came into the kitchen and asked, "is that what we're having for dinner?" something in his face told me he wasn't particularly excited about the prospect of eating it. when i asked him if it looked good, he said "it looks like it has a lot of vegetables in it." indeed it did.

i got the recipe from my friend j'lene who has never shared with me a recipe i didn't like. in fact, her chicken enchilada recipe is probably one of our family's favorite meals. when josh got up for a second helping of soup, i knew that this one is going to be made over and over as well. the thing is, i totally didn't make it according to the recipe. i skipped a few ingredients and didn't cook everything exactly as the recipe asked. but that's the beauty of cooking vs. baking. you can fudge a whole lot with cooking, while with baking you have to be very precise (which is, i think, why i'm no good at baking)

here is the recipe:

Italian Sausage & Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

-1/4 cup olive oil
-5 links sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings (i didn't use sweet sausage, just the regular Italian sausage)
-1 cup thinly sliced onions (Josh won't allow onions in our house, so i minced a few cloves of garlic instead)
-1 cup diced carrots
-1 cup diced celery
-2 cups peeled, diced potatoes (I prefer to keep the peel on my potatoes...makes them healthier)
-2 cups diced zucchini
-1 cup diced green beans
-3 cups shredded curly cabbage (I used the regular kind of cabbage)
-6-8 cups chicken broth
-1 cup canned diced Italian tomatoes w/ juice
-2-3 cups water
-1 1/2 cups canned cannelloni beans
-salt & pepper
-1 cup rice
-pesto or grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

Heat oil in very large soup pot. (mine almost overflowed!) Add sausage and saute over high heat until meat starts to brown.

Add fresh vegetables in the order listed, cooking over high heat for 3-4 minutes after each addition. After adding the cabbage, cook for 8-10 minutes.

Add broth, tomatoes and water. Bring to a simmer and then add the cannelloni beans. Simmer, uncovered for 2 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (I started the soup too late and only simmered it for 1 hour)

Add rice, cover and simmer until rice is cooked, depending on type of rice used. Check seasoning and serve with pesto or grated parmesan sprinkled on top.

that's it....let me know if you decide to try it!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

That sounds so good. I can't wait to try it for special guests

M.R. Tumnus said...

Wow, I'm glad Josh liked it. I'll have to try it too. XO

Lovella ♥ said...

I will absolutely try it next week .. .
It remindds me of the old Life Cereal commercials .. If Joshie likes it .. . it must be good.
It looked good even from the picture before I read the ingredients . .smile.

Lauren Williams said...

okay, what josh said about the vegetables is so what thad would say. he is always so skeptical of soup! but that soup sounds really good. and we were dying laughing that josh doesn't allow onions in the house!!! for real......they are used in so many recipes. i can't believe it!

Laura Railing said...

Heidi, my mom didn't use onions really at all when I was growing up. Instead she used onion powder. It adds the flavor without the onions. Unless Josh doesn't like the flavor at all :-)

Z-Mama said...

Mmmm sounds yummy!

Jordan and Breanna Abeel said...

You were right, it was delicious! J'lene has the best recipes!