Saturday, January 22, 2011

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 KitchenIngredient Spotlight

17 comments:

  1. This is the perfect meal for the weather we're having in New England. Really looks delicious!

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  2. Just perfect! I have 2 new crockpots (my FIL didn't realize I had bought 2 and I did have 3 but gave one to my son!) With the kind of hours that Grumpy works I need to start making use of them. I am going to try your soup! Looks YUMMY!

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  3. This recipe sounds so good. I am trying to use the crockpot more.

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  4. That sounds so tasty! I'm trying to use my crockpot more and never thought of it for soup (though I use it for stews often) - thanks for the idea!

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  5. Yummy! I have some turkey sausage sitting in the freezer. Wasn't sure what to do! Now I have dinner tonite. Thanks! Love your blog BTW

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  6. I LOVE this in the crockpot! I'll sub the mushrooms for something but this will be on the menu soon! Thanks!

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  7. Sounds delicious! I can't wait to give it a try soon!

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  8. looks amazing! I would love for you to link to my easy dinners blog post... crockpot makes everything better!

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  9. Yum! This does sound perfect for the cold weather! I can smell it cooking...Delicious!!

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  10. Going to fix this for dinner tonight! Might sub potatoes for the mushrooms, not because I don't love them...I just don't have any! Next time for sure! Thanks for such simple, simply great recipes!

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  11. This is the meal that would be great to come home to, in the winter weather.

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  12. This is perfect comfort food for our Beat the Winter Blues link party. Come link up! http://goodbycityhellosuburbs.blogspot.com

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  13. Just made this and it was EXCELLENT! Thank you so much! I'll link to you when I post it!

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  14. My Google Alerts isn't working, so I just found this through a comment on my blog- thanks for linking to me and trying the recipe! It's always fun to see how people liked and adapted recipes. I'd love to use mushrooms, too, but I'll have to wait until the kids are out of the house, 'cause it's one thing they really still complain about. :-)

    -Jami
    An Oregon Cottage

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  15. Comfort food at it's finest, for sure! Looks scrumptious! I would love it if you linked this up at my blog party, Makin' You Crave Monday, over at MrsHappyHomemaker.com!

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  16. I made this this week and it is SO GOOD! I can't wait to make it again. I might try to use ground beef next time in stead of sausage.

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Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear from you; especially how you're finding JOY in your kitchen.

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