Since it is still winter in this lovely part of the country (and we have at least another month and half to go before Spring starts showing up regularly), I wanted to get another big pot of homemade soup made. I found a Vegetable and Spicy Sausage Soup in the March issue of Cooking Light and it looked like a winner. I can honestly say that of all the recipes I have made from Cooking Light they have all turned out! That is a pretty good feat.
I am rockin’ my new apron from TJ Maxx, I wanted something a little more stylish than the plain style I had before.
Ingredients
- 4 ounces 50% less fat pork sausage
- 1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
- 1 1/4 cups finely chopped zucchini
- 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 (15.5-ounce) can low-sodium canellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup half and half
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (I used dried)
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sausage to pan, and cook for 4 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from pan; keep warm.
Return pan to medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, zucchini, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and garlic; cook stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons tomato paste and red pepper; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Place 1 cup vegetable mixture, 1/2 cup of broth, and 1 can of beans in a food processor, and process until smooth.
Return pureed bean mixture to pan. Add remaining 2 1/2 cups of broth and 1 can of beams; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until thoroughly cooked. Remove from heat, and stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, half-and-half, rosemary and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
Ladle soup into each bowl and top with sausage.
This soup had great flavor and the red pepper flakes give it a nice kick. The next time we make this I would probably add a little more pork or maybe even turkey sausage to give it a bit more protein. We served our soup with some quick sandwiches to make it a bit more filling.
This afternoon I met up with my blog friends Erika and Kate for some Red Mango. They were troopers and drove all the way out to the ‘burbs for some delicious frozen yogurt. We each got our own unique flavor combo, mine was the Cocoa Yogurt with Blueberries, Mochi (the little gummy rice things that I am addicted to) and Coco Pebbles. This was delicious, but what looks even better is the trio of goodness when you see all of ours together.
Erika was super nice and brought each of us a bag of goodies, I love surprises 
We each got a luna bar, some Pom Wonderful juice and her homemade trail mix. Yum!
Cheers to two of my favorite blogging ladies!
It has been a very productive morning, we got the pantry cleaned out and organized, the spice cabinet organized and all old/expired spices thrown away, a great workout at the gym, a grocery store trip, some laundry, breakfast and blogging. It is nice to wake up at 7 and get going right away! Breakfast involved my new nut butter friend- Vanilla and Cinnamon Sunflower Butter that I ordered from Kath’s Open Sky Shop. This stuff is amazing It will be making lots of appearances over the next few weeks. 2 pieces of toast were a great mid morning breakfast.
These cute yellow birds somehow flew right into my cart this morning 
I am letting them get stale because that is how I roll with my Peeps.
Are you a fan of Peeps?
Last night was our monthly dinner for the Couples Group that we run, we choose Santorini’s because they are great for groups and a lot of the people in the group had never had Greek food before. We had 8 couples in attendance with 4 couples at each table. It was a good way to socialize and try to talk to everyone. We choose a Rosemount Shiraz for Wine.
We started with the Pita Spreads, you choose 3 options from their list of 8. We had the Spicy Feta, Tahini and Melitzano
Spicy Feta – Creamy feta with olive oil and hot peppers
Taramosalata – Red caviar, potatoes and onions
Tirosalata – Fresh herbs, peppers and feta cheese
Tzatziki – Yogurt sauce with garlic and cucumbers
Tahini hummous – Garbanzo, sesame seeds and olive oil
Roasted pepper hummous – Garbanzo with roasted sweet peppers and chiles
Melitzano – salata – Roasted eggplant with garlic and oil.
Kalamata and Goat Cheese tapenade – Chunk olives, herbs, garlic and fresh goat cheese
Before my dinner arrived I had a cup of Avgolemono Soup, which I think its my favorite soup! Such great lemon flavor.
Mike ordered the lamb moussaka, two lamb Chops, pastichio, potatoes & vegetable combo. I should have taken the after picture, there was nothing left of his plate!
I ordered the Greek peasant sampler that had Lamb gyro, shrimp, loukaniko sausage, dolmades, tzatziki, feta cheese, olives, peppers, spinach pie
and pastichio in phyllo. This was SO MUCH FOOD! I think I ate about 1/4 of it, the fridge is now full of leftovers.
Santorini’s was great for a big group and our service was impeccable! I would go back with the couples group in the future.
