Minestrone/Italian Sausage Soup

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The weather is slowly cooling down which means time for soup!! There's nothing like a warm, hearty bowl of soup on a cool fall day (even better on a cold winter one!). I adapted this soup from this recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/Italian-Sausage-Soup/Detail.aspx?prop31=5 with my own modifications of course. As I've mentioned before, I don't measure. I study recipes and then do my own thing. So, as I provide meal ideas,
I'll often give you a link to my inspiration (if there was one) or just tell you all the things I used just to give you an idea. My main goal is to get you thinking about meal ideas.

Ok, what I used for this lovely minestrone: 

Sweet italian sausage 

Minced Garlic 

Onion powder

Italian Seasoning 

Worcestershire sauce

Can of diced tomatoes

Orzo pasta

Chicken stock

Can of Northern Beans

Fresh spinach

Frozen Italian Blend Mix

Black pepper

1) Sauteed italian sausage with minced garlic until sausage was no longer pink. 

2) Added stock to fill about half the pot, can of tomatoes, about a 1/2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce(I find that it adds depth of flavor when paired with meats), onion powder, italian seasoning, and black pepper. Covered and allowed to simmer for 15 minutes. 

3) Then added a can of beans and a small cup (maybe a 1/2) of uncooked orzo to the pot. Stirred and then covered to allow the soup to continue simmering. Here is where I'd add more stock if necessary. 

4) After 10 minutes of simmering, I tasted the soup and adjusted the seasonings (here is where you can decide if you want to add salt or not. I personally felt that with the italian sausage, Worcestershire, tomatoes,stock, and beans, there was more than enough salt already). I then added the frozen italian blend mix and continued simmering for another 10 minutes. 

5) Finally, I turned off the fire and added chopped fresh spinach to the top of the soup and covered; allowing the spinach to steam for 5 minutes before stirring the soup to combine all of the ingredients. 

The end result is this delicious minestrone soup. Mmmmm...remember you can modify this soup to your liking.  Add another type of pasta or even rice or potatoes, different vegetables, mix hot and sweet italian sausage...whatever. Have fun with it! 

Happy Cooking (and eating)!! 

B