I have been really proud of myself lately, and I owe it all to Pinterest. See, I have been trying to cook more, especially from scratch. I have that bad habit of being kind of an all-or-nothing person; I either can say I cook from scratch or I can't. But I have come to realize that this type of thinking is really kind of damaging and promotes a rather unhealthy desire for perfection. I am a mom of a two and a three year old. There is no such thing as perfection.
Something about Pinterest makes it easy to set goals. Instead of trying to revamp our whole diet and scouring the internet for recipes, I can look at my Pinterest recipe board and say, "ok, make one new thing from this each week." This has worked out nicely with my weekly soup challenge!
This week's soup was a Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup, the inspiration for which I found on Pinterest. Feast on the Cheap came up with a simple and somewhat rustic soup that I thought my husband would like, and when the Italian Sweet Sausage went on killer sale, I figured there was no time like the present! I made a few minor tweaks to the recipe and got cookin'!
Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup (makes 4 large bowls)
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage (obv. I only used part of what is pictured!)
- 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 1 qt. chicken broth
- 1 c. water
- 6-8 grape tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (read more about this below)
- 1/2 tbsp. dried basil
- 8 oz. (half a box) shell pasta, uncooked
- 4 oz. spinach leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Remove sausage from casings and brown in the almighty enameled cast iron dutch oven.
2. Add your onions, carrots and garlic.
3. Saute until onions are translucent. mmmmmmm
4. Add the chicken broth, water, tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Remember with the S&P to start small; you can always add more later, but you can't take away!
5. Bring to a boil, then turn to low and let simmer, covered, for a minimum 30 minutes, longer if you have time. Stir and taste occasionally.
6. 15 minutes before serving, add beans and pasta, stir, and recover. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until pasta is tender.
7. A couple minutes before serving, stir in the spinach until just wilted.
8. Let cool off a bit (soup is best served very very warm but not scalding hot) and serve!
This soup turned out great and we will be making it again. You can see from the ingredients picture that I subbed Great Northern Beans for cannellini -- I think this turned out fine, but don't add them too soon or they get a little mealy. The cannellinis might be better for this soup. This soup also makes yummy leftovers!
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