Italian Sausage Minestrone

Roger and I were thinking of doing an Olive Garden clone because they have some delicious soups. His favorite is Sopa Toscana (and I'm sure we'll be trying to emulate that soon). While thinking of how to do a minestrone for this week, Roger was looking around at various recipes and (as usual) had a stroke of brilliance: add Italian sausage, because we all know that everything is better when you add Italian sausage. Word of warning though- this is an exorbitantly rich soup. There were days during the week where I couldn't even finish it all, but I'm a girl who can't even finish a piece of rich chocolate cake so the rest of you should be fine. Roger finished all of his.

Italian Sausage Minestrone

about 230 to 250 calories per serving
makes 14 2-cup servings
about $12-$15

2 lbs. sweet Italian sausage (you can buy this in bulk or buy the links and remove the casing)
2 or 3 chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion
28 oz. (2 cans) cannellini beans, drained
28 oz. (2 cans) garbanzo beans, drained
64 oz. chicken broth
3 or 4 plum tomatoes
1/2 lb. salad macaroni or the pasta of your choice
pinch rosemary, thyme and basil; either dried or fresh would work
1/2 cup grated or shredded parmigiana cheese
dash sea salt
dash fresh ground pepper
olive oil

Coat the bottom of the pot with olive oil and brown the Italian sausage. Remove sausage and set aside. Add carrots, garlic, onion. Season with salt and pepper, cook until tender, then return sausage to pot and add  beans and chicken broth. Bring to simmer.

Using the largest holes on your grater, grate the tomatoes into the pot. Add rosemary, thyme and basil then season with salt and pepper. Simmer soup for 20 to 30 minutes.

If serving immediately, bring soup to a boil and add pasta; cook until pasta is al dente. Or if you're packaging the soup for the week like we are, prepare pasta separately and add the pasta as you reheat the individual servings.

Serve topped with cheese.