Soup of the Week: Italian Sausage Veggie Soup

Italian Sausage Soup with Veggies

My older sister, Jane, sent me the link to this soup with this note:
I made this soup this week. Very quick to make but very good if you like Italian Sausage. I made it as stated but you could use other fresh vegetables and it would be fine too. We had fresh sourdough bread but cornbread would be good too!  ---Jane
We do like Italian sausage and always have some in the freezer.  So, all I had to do was buy the fresh veggies.  I adapted it -- no surprise there.  It is a good winter soup.  It's on my "make again" list.

Italian Sausage Veggie Soup
(adapted from Allrecipes.com)

1.5 pounds Italian sausage (we used spicy, but you can use sweet), chopped into bite size pieces or casings removed, and crumbled like hamburger meat
lots of garlic, minced
1 liter (2 14 ounce cans) beef stock
1 large can crushed tomatoes (28 ounces), including juices
1 - 2 T. dried basil leaves
3 sliced carrots
1 can (14.5 ounces) cannelini beans, undrained
2 small zucchini, bite size
2 cups of spinach- packed, rinsed and torn
salt and pepper, generously, to taste
shredded Parmesan, for garnish

In a large soup pot, brown the sausage, and remove all but 2 T. fat.  Add garlic and saute until soft but not brown.  Stir in broth, tomatoes, basil, carrots, and season with a little salt and pepper, just a little or none.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in the beans and zucchini.  Add a little hot water to be sure all the ingredients are covered.  Cover, simmer another 15 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender.

Remove from the heat, and add spinach.  Replace lid allowing the heat from the soup to cook the spinach leaves.  Soup will be ready in about 5 minutes.

Taste and season with salt and pepper, as needed.  I didn't add any because the stock and sausage made it salty enough.

Garnish with grated Parmesan.

B