Spinach is back. Finally. I had heard that it might start showing up in the stores last week and finally found some on Friday. Too bad I jumped so quickly at this bag - I prefer the baby spinach and Wegman's had a supply when I went to the store last night.
This recipe is from Cooking Light, but I'm afraid our version was more like Cooking-not-so-light. I didn't realize this called for Italian turkey sausage and I bought regular Italian sausage. Sometimes CL recipes DO call for small amounts of the full-fat sausages.
Right off the bat I decided that I would double this recipe and it ended up being a very good idea. I love soup leftovers and besides, my boys have pretty big appetites these days, so I'm having to cook more to make sure there is enough!
The recipe ended up needing even more tweaking after I realized that it also called for canned tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano. No problem, I just used plain diced tomatoes and added 3 large cloves of garlic (which I usually add anyway in recipes like this - you just can't beat fresh garlic), 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon oregano. I purposely left out the fresh basil - simply because I was feeling cheap and didn't feel like shelling out the money for it.
At first it didn't look like there would be enough pasta for my tastes, so I added another 1/2 cup. What I didn't do, however, is add more liquid to the pot, so the soup ended up a little skimpy on the broth base. I would consider adding more pasta next time - but maybe only an additional 1/4 cup, but I would definitely up the liquid too.
I'd love to try this with hot Italian sausage or a combination of hot and mild. And next time - turkey sausage. With the regular sausage, it upped the fat to 18 grams per serving, versus 7 grams. And there will be a next time - this soup will definitely be a repeater for us. It's tasty and a cinch to throw together. It also calls for ingredients that I almost always have on hand - a big plus for those last minute, "What's for dinner?" panics.
The apple muffins are still on the list for tonight (hopefully I'll post tomorrow), but I want to make sure to get this soup recipe up for Sweetnicks' ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday. With spinach and tomato and a side of red grapes, we definitely got on 1 or more of that 5-A-Day quota. And I submit it in celebration at the return of spinach. Check back with Sweetnicks later for the weekly round-up.
Tags: spinach, Italian sausage, soup, Cooking Light, low-fat, recipe
This is one of our favorite soups... It is fantastic with the hot italian turkey sausage. I use orzo when I make it though.
ReplyDeleteHi Joe. :)
ReplyDeleteI almost grabbed some orzo for this, but remembered some Ditalini I had bought the other day for minestrone or other soups.
I will try the hot sausage next time - hot would probably be best when using a lower-fat sausage anyway, I'll bet.
Oh my gosh! I am sooo making this for tonight. Super simple and looks really good. Thanks for posting this, you're a lifesaver today. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Erika. Glad to have helped you solve a dinner dilemna. :) This is one of those soups you can use as a "go to" any time you want something quick, but homemade.
ReplyDeleteI just had some leftover soup for lunch - yummy..........
Perfect! This was really good, and everyone liked it. I used star shaped pasta and had to use frozen spinach because the fresh is still in hiding here. But overall it gets a big thumbs up from us.
ReplyDelete