I recently found this soup on allrecipes.com and highly recommend it. I made it for Halloween the other night and the rest of my family enjoyed it as well. Ajax even liked it. The original recipe was for the stove, but I modified it for my crock pot. Gotta love the crock pot! I assume that everyone has at least one crock pot. If you don’t have a crock pot, how do you survive?
- 1 lb Italian sausage (I have made this with ground pork as well, which gives the soup a lighter taste. The Italian sausage gives it a richer flavor- both good depending on what you’re looking for).
- 1 clove garlic (I just used a small pinch of chopped garlic I had in the frig)
- 2 cans beef broth (I added 3; with at least one being no salt/low sodium – you have to be careful that the soup doesn’t get too salty with all the canned broth)
- 1 can Italian-style stewed or diced tomatoes (I added 2, one with Italian seasoning and one without)
- 1 C sliced carrots (I never measure my carrots, I just take handfuls, give them a random dicing and toss them in)
- 1 can great northern beans, undrained (I used dried beans. I soaked them overnight and then dumped in about a cup and a half)
- 2 small zucchini (I omitted this because I didn’t have it)
- 2 cups spinach (one time I used fresh spinach and it was great, another time I used frozen and it too was great)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt (I omitted the salt and then let people add to taste)
- I also added – rosemary, oregano, basil, paprika, and cumin
- 1 C cooked pasta
Brown the sausage and onions together (or throw it into the crockpot raw- I’ve done it both ways because I’m lazy). Add in the rest of the ingredients, stirring well. I cooked it on low for 8 hours (or high for 6, depending the strength of your crock pot). I serve this with either fresh butterhorns or cornbread. At the end of cooking the soup add in about a cup of cooked pasta, I used penne because that’s what I had, but a smaller pasta would be better. I’ve made this soup with and without the pasta. I liked the pasta and so did my dad, but Dave and my mom didn’t really like the pasta. So maybe make it on the side and people can add it if they want. Or not, no biggie.
Ajax helping me with the dishes-
