ITALIAN SAUSAGE SOUP

Hi All!  I was going to make a Chicken Spinach Casserole for today but then it dawned on me that I've been cooking a lot of chicken and spinach dishes here lately so I decided to venture off in another direction.  Today I am preparing Italian Sausage Soup as found on BettyCrocker.com.  Personally, I'm really not that big on homemade soups, particularly vegetable soups.  I'm more of "Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup" type of girl but a friend and former co-worker (Randy White) passed this recipe on to me a couple of years ago and I immediately fell in love with it. 

Final Thoughts......I usually dress it up a bit by melting a slice of provolone cheese on top and I accompany it with a slice of fresh baked French bread.  (Don't get me wrong.  I'm not a bread baker......at least not yet.)  What I'm referring to is the Pillsbury French Bread that you'll find near the biscuits in your local grocery store.  It's really simple.  You pop it out of the container, place it on a greased cookie sheet, cut some slits across the top and bake for about 30 minutes.   It's so much better than that frozen stuff! 

Also, if you want to keep this soup low calorie, make sure to buy the turkey Italian sausage.  It doesn't have quite the kick as regular Italian sausage but with the other great flavors in this soup, you won't know the difference.

Ingredients:

1 lb turkey Italian sausage links, cut into 1" pieces
2 c. broccoli florets
1 c. uncooked Mostaccioli pasta (3 oz.)
2 1/2 c. water
1/2 tsp. dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp. fennel seed
1/4 tsp. pepper
1-28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
1-18.5 oz can French Onion Soup

Directions:

1.  In a medium stock pot,  cook sausage over medium-high heat until no longer pink.

2.  Stir in remaining ingedients, breaking up tomatoes.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium-low.

3.  Cover and cook about 15 minutes, stirring ocassionally, until pasta is tender.

Nutrition Information:

1 serving (approx. 1 1/2 cup): Calories 230

Fat 8g

Cholesterol 40g

Sodium 1260 mg

Carbohydrate 23g

Fiber 3g

Protein 16g