Sausage and Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Eric and I love soup, but we don’t have a lot of soup recipes. When I found this recipe, I knew we’d love it. In my opinion, you can’t go wrong when fire roasted tomatoes and sausage are involved.  We’ve recently discovered some awesome sausage at Whole Foods – roasted red pepper and garlic.  Any sausage will definitely be fine in this dish, but that sausage really takes it to the next level.

This is the second time we’ve made this soup, and I feel like it could be a weekly meal for us. The fresh basil gives the soup a really fresh and light taste, and the spinach leaves add a great texture. We add the spinach leaves to our individual bowls instead of the soup pot because I can’t imagine the spinach leaves would taste very good in the leftovers. This soup has a ton of flavor without being heavy. It’s also really quick and easy to make on a weeknight.

Sausage and Fire Roasted Tomato Soup
Ingredients:
1/2 tsp of olive oil
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
8 ounces 50% less fat pork sausage
2 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
3/4 cup uncooked small shell pasta
2 cups bagged baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Directions:
-Heat a large saucepan over medium heat.
-Add 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil to the pan.
-Add onion to the pan and cook until translucent.
-Add sausage, garlic, pepper, salt and red pepper to pan, and cook about 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble.
-Add broth, tomatoes, and pasta to pan and bring to a boil over high heat.
-Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until pasta is done.
-Remove from heat; stir in spinach until wilted.
-Sprinkle each serving with cheese and basil.

Serves 4.

Source: As seen on Elizabeth’s Edible Experience, originally adapted from Cooking Light.