Crockpot Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup

With winter in full swing, there's nothing better than a slow-cooked soup.  This recipe went together in minutes -- simmered all day long making the house smell incredible, and tasted like I had worked hard all day to make a delicious dinner.

I adapted the original recipe to use less meat.  One way we stretch our food budget is by halving the amount of meat listed in recipes -- we don't really miss it, we still get the flavor and taste we enjoy, and we can get two or more meals out of a given 1 lb. of meat. 

I also added mushrooms.  Because we love them.  If you don't, I can still be your friend, and you can easily omit them from this recipe.  Just try making this one; I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Crockpot Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup - Adapted from An Oregon Cottage

1/2 lb. Italian sausage, cooked
4 C low-sodium beef broth
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 T minced onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 C green beans {frozen}
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 large handful, baby carrots
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 C small shell pasta

Begin by browning the sausage.  Our sausage was cooked and in the freezer, we simply thawed it before adding it to the crockpot.

Pour in the beef broth.

Add garlic and onion.

Then, toss in the mushrooms, green beans, and carrots. Add the tomatoes, including their juice.

Add the Italian seasoning.

Stir to mix, then cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

About 45 minutes before serving, turn the crockpot up to high. Then, add in the pasta.

When the pasta is done to your linking, serve up a bowl!

I have a 4 quart crockpot, and this soup comfortably served 4 adults with one meal left over.  We served it with whole wheat dinner rolls.

Enjoy!

This post is linked to: Potluck Sunday, Sundae Scoop, Virtual Soup Swap, Easy Dinners, This Week's Craving, Your Recipe, My Kitchen, Ingredient Spotlight