italian sausage soup with tortellini

if you make only one soup before spring fully takes hold, this is the one to make. seriously, make it.

i was looking for a recipe for a hearty meal kind of soup, and i've got to say that this one hits the mark. i've made it several times without posting because to be honest, i couldn't get a decent picture of it. with the new camera we got for christmas, food photos are much easier! (thank you, pat and tom!)

this soup is a bit time more time consuming than some dinners, but it's that easy kind of time consuming when you get to walk away for 20-30 minutes at a time and get something else done. (which is, of course, my favorite type of time consumption - being able to do lots at once.)

first up, the ingredients:

1 lb sweet italian sausage, casings removed (over here, i just use the ultra lean local sausage...and i can highly recommend going LEAN - it's still delicious!)
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups beef broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red wine
4 large tomatoes - peeled, seeded and chopped (tip: slice a cross-corss on the top of each tomato and drop them into boiling water for a couple seconds. when you take them out, the skins will come right off)
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 T packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 T dried oregano
8 oz tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
8 ounces fresh tortellini pasta (i usually use a ricotta-spinach version)
3 T fresh chopped parsley

now your to-do list:

brown sausage in a 5 quart dutch oven. remove the sausage and drain. if there are drippings, save a little bit and then saute the onion and garlic in them in the dutch oven. if you don't have any drippings, use the smallest amount of olive oil possible instead.

stir in the beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. bring to a boil then simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

skim any fat from the soup (i don't get any with my lean sausage), then add in the zucchini and parsley. simmer covered for 30 minutes, adding tortellini in the last ten minutes or so.

depending on your beef broth, you may need a little salt.

and TIP: only add as much tortellini as you think you will consume in your first sitting. add any remaining tortellini the next night when you reheat it on the stove. (otherwise, the tortellini sucks up all the liquid!)

ENJOY!

(mostly homemade) chicken and rice soup

when you're not feeling well, you want chicken soup. after returning from a thanksgiving adventure in turkey (an update to follow shortly in SIE), dave was pretty sick. we're talking third-sick-day-in-seven-years sick. he stayed in bed all day. so of course i made him chicken rice soup. gluten-free noodles don't hold up that well when overcooked, as noodles in soup tend to be, so rice was more out of necessity than desire. the result was still tasty.

i used a semi-homemade kind of recipe i found on allrecipes for the base:

2 quarts chicken broth
1 quart water
1 store-bought roasted chicken
little bit of vegetable oil
2 large onions, cut into a medium dice
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into rounds
2 large stalks celery, sliced 1/4 inch thick

directions: bring broth and water to a simmer. separate meat from skin and bones of chicken and set meat aside. add skin and bones to the liquid and simmer about 45 minutes. strain broth into a separate container and discard skin and bones. add a drizzle of oil to the pot and add onions, carrots, and celery. saute until just soft. add chicken and broth. simmer 15 minutes or so, then add any additional ingredients you'd like.

(i added 3/4 cup rinsed long-grain rice and simmered for 15 minutes and added 1 cup of frozen peas just before serving.)

for a sick person, a good grilled cheese on fresh french bread makes this even better!! (french bread obviously isn't gluten free!)

peanut butter vegetable chicken soup

yes, i'm serious. i made peanut butter vegetable chicken soup last night and it was delicious! neither dave nor i are feeling top notch so i was in the mood for soup. i found this recipe and had to give it a try. i know it sounds a bit odd, but it ended up being a great meal for us. for one, it has a ton of veggies in it. and two, who doesn't love peanut butter?! (though i must be honest: the flavor at the end isn't really peanut buttery...it has an overall nutty essence.) please forgive the photograph - nothing looks good in green bowls!

the recipe (slightly modified from this one):

8 cups chicken broth
one cup chopped onion
one cup chopped celery
two cloves garlic, roughly chopped
two chicken breasts, cooked and chopped or shredded
one cup peeled and diced carrot
one cup peeled and chopped potato
one cup diced zucchini
one cup broccoli florets
1 can whole tomatoes (including juice), broken up
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

directions:
in a little drizzle of olive oil, saute the onion, garlic and celery until translucent and set aside. meanwhile, in a large pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. add the carrot, chicken, and potato, return the broth to a boil, and then simmer for ten minutes. add the onion, garlic, and celery mixture as well as the zucchini, broccoli and tomatoes and simmer for another ten minutes or so. add the peanut butter and mix until the peanut butter has dissolved. i find it best to let the flavors work in for another ten minutes or so. if needed, add a little salt and pepper and/or parsley.

enjoy!

minestrone soup

i got a great recipe for minestrone soup from a gluten-free blog called the gluten-free girl. (recipe here.) the result was very very tasty, healthy, and of course gluten-free (though dave enjoyed some sliced french bread with his). the recipe was really easy, too, so i'll definitely be making it often!

spicy chicken soup

this turned out to be a tasty, hearty soup that in all honesty is probably better suited for autumn or winter. regardless, we enjoyed ours topped with a bit of cheese and some tortilla chips.  yum! the best part: it's gluten-free!!