Some Kind of Wonderful

I like soup. No, that’s not right. I love soup. I haven’t made or had any soup in months. Summer doesn’t always make me want soup, but we’ve been having some cool evenings finally and it’s put me in a mood. Today I decided we would have soup for dinner. Blossom wanted Chicken Noodle soup a couple of days ago and I thought,

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

So off to the grocery store to purchase the necessary ingredients to create a fabulous batch of chicken noodle soup. It was doomed from the start when I couldn’t find the Grandma’s frozen noodles. Yes. You read that right frozen noodles. Don’t judge.  Then in the meat department there were no boneless skinless thighs and I was not in the mood for deboning chicken.

So I stood in the aisle with a blank look on my face and my Mad Scientist brain flipping through the possibilities. I saw Italian Sausage and that took my brain to Ravioletti, which I love in soup and the train was rolling down the track. I grabbed a few more ingredients and had a recipe in my head that I hoped would end up in a pot of delicious soup.

It did. You win because I’m sharing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Scrumptious Sausage Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 Italian Sausage Links
• Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Cup sliced celery
• 2 cups sliced petite portabella mushrooms
• 4-6 cloves minced garlic (I probably used 8 but who’s counting?)
• 1/4 cup fresh chiffonade basil
• 6 baby bell peppers sliced
• Jar Marinara
• Can Petite Diced Tomatoes
• Can of Garbanzo Beans rinsed & drained
• 2 Marinara Jars water
• 2 tbsp chicken base
• 1 tsp salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 2/3 box of Ravioletti

Instructions:

Heat a skillet to medium-medium high heat. Brown sausage links on two sides. A 1/4 cup of water, reduce heat to low and cover.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove and slice.

Heat a stock pot or large cooking pot to medium/medium high. Add olive oil, sausage and all drippings from skillet, celery, mushrooms, bell peppers, basil and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, then add remaining ingredients. Bring to a low boil, add ravioletti and stir. Give the stock a taste to be sure it’s seasoned correctly. Reduce to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Ladle up a good bowl and float some Cheez-it crackers (is there any other?).  Now dig in!