Souper Sunday - Italian Sausage Soup

It’s Sunday night and my Giants are playing the Cowboys at their new stadium. After a wild first half, I thought I’d run downstairs to quickly get my Sunday post up for you all! ;) Then I’m going to head back up and catch the rest of the game.

Tonight’s soup comes via my wonderful mother-in-law, Marianne - Italian Sausage Soup. The recipe has been sitting in my recipe box a while but we hadn’t made it yet. When I put it on this week’s menu plan, I thought I was giving my dear husband, Ed, a little taste of home, but he tells me this evening that the soup he remembers didn’t have the tomato base that this one had. Nonetheless, while unfamiliar, the soup was an overwhelming success, prompting Ed to comment that we could do away with a different soup each week and just make this one every Sunday! I really liked it but with all the sausage, its really a guy-pleasing concoction. Sorry honey, but we are going to cycle through soups this year!

Italian Sausage Soup

1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage (about 6 links - 3 hot, 3 mild)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 c celery

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes

2 c. chicken broth

1 can of Northern or canellini beans

2 c. shredded cabbage

1/4 t dried basil

1/4 dried thyme

1/4 dried oregano

1 bay leaf

Precook the sausage and slice. Add onion to pot and saute until begins to soften (3 min). Add celery, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, beans, cabbage and spices. Simmer 25 min. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Preparation notes - I wound up calling my MIL during the preparation. She said I didn’t need to drain and wash the beans before adding them. If you would prefer to do that, I would recommend adding a little more broth to the soup. I also made it easy on myself tonight and used pre-shredded cabbage with carrots in it. I also probably doubled the amount of spices added in and used fresh thyme from the garden, which smelled phenomenal! We served it with italian bread and a little parmesan cheese sprinkled over top.

Buon Appetito!