Sweet Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup

A goal of our has been to grow our own food and raise our own meat while teaching our children important life skills. Above are the pigs that we finished raising last winter and have now been relocated to freezer camp. We have always eaten a good amount of pork but I have been struggling to “mix it up”. We chose to have all of our cuts just simply that cuts, no sausage, nothing smoked or cured. In my quest to make my own sausage I came upon this recipe.

We love this soup its quick and easy and typically we have all the ingredients around the house.

Ingredients:

1 pound Sweet Italian Sausage

1 TBSP minced garlic

1 TBSP olive oil

2 C. diced Carrot

2 C. diced Parsnips

1 Quart jar of Leek and Potato Soup

2 C. Diced Tomatoes

4 C. Water

1 TBPS. Vegetable Stock

2 bay leaves

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp sweet paprika

2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp dried oregano

A dash or two of cayenne pepper

4 oz (half a brick) of cream cheese

1 family size bag of refrigerated Tortellini (I like cheese and spinach)

Start out with a large soup pot, olive oil and minced garlic, then add the meat and brown it with the garlic.

Now when I was making this batch of soup I didn’t have Sweet Italian Sausage, but I did have ground pork so I simply made my own by doubling the dry spices listed above.

Add in the Parsnips and Carrots, stir and let those cook for a minute. The add in the diced tomatoes and dry spices.

Now we add in the leek and potato soup, water and vegetable stock.

Let everything cook together until the carrots and parsnips are almost fully cooked then add in the refrigerated tortellini and cream cheese.

Remove your bay leaves and serve. I like to warm up some Naan bread to accompany the soup or I just slice up whatever bread I happen to have lying around.

Enjoy!