Soup It Up

Even though the calendar says today is the first day of May, and that technically it is supposed to be Spring, the thermometer has been saying something completely different these days.  We’ve had more snow again for these past couple of days, however with Colorado being what it is, all that snow has already melted.  One day we are in shorts and eating light, and the next day we are all bundled up and eating soup and baking bread.  It gets very confusing around here sometimes, but if nothing else, it certainly keeps us on our toes.  The moral of the story is DON’T put away all your winter stuff just yet.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring?  So with this wacky Colorado weather, it was a perfect day for making another big pot of soup.  I also baked some delicious bread to go with it.  The soup of the day this time was a green chili sausage soup with spinach, tomatoes, Great Northern beans (or any white beans) and orzo.  Hang on for the bread.  That will be coming tomorrow.  I have to keep you all in a little bit of suspense, right?!  🙂

This soup is one of my own recipes, based on what I had that needed to be cooked.  More so than not, this is one of my favorite ways to cook.  I love raiding the refrigerator and the cupboards to see what I have and to see how creative I can be with what I have.  (The bread is proofing on the stove in the background).

Green Chili Sausage Soup

2 lbs green chili sausage, cooked and sliced – You can use any kind of sausage you like

1 onion, diced small

2 heaping TBSP garlic

2 cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 lb orzo (1/2 box)

8-10 cups chicken broth

3-4 cups fresh spinach, stemmed and chopped

3-4 tomatoes, medium dice

1 TBSP red pepper flakes or to taste

2 tsp cinnamon

salt & pepper to taste

olive oil

 

Cook the sausage completely.  I cooked it in olive oil.  Let the sausage cool then cut in thin slices and set aside.

While the sausage is cooking, cut the vegetables.

Once the sausages are completely cooked, remove them from the pan and set them aside.  In the same pan, adding more oil if needed, saute the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook until the onions are translucent.

Once the onions are done, add the sliced sausages back into the pot and add the chicken stock, beans, seasonings and orzo.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer for about 5-10 minutes.  Add the spinach and tomatoes right at the very end.  They will cook just by being in the hot liquid.  Also, the longer the soup sets, the more liquid the orzo will soak up and absorb too.  If you are going to make the soup ahead, keep this in mind, because you may need to add more liquid before serving.  Although if you like a thicker “soup” it’s fine to leave it as is too.

As usual, I make things ahead of time, and we eat them later on, after I get home from work.  This time, my husband and I were on two completely different schedules.  He ate first, then left to go to the Avalanche hockey game (it’s play-off season.  Go Av’s) and I ate after I returned home from work.  So a lot of the soup broth was absorbed by the orzo, making it more like a stew than a soup, which is perfectly fine with me.  I love both.

Every time I eat a simple meal like this, it always makes me think of this picture that hangs in my kitchen.  It has always been one of my favorite pictures.   I have had this picture in my kitchen my whole life.  It speaks volumes to me.  It keeps me humble.

Soup’s on.  Come and get it while it’s hot.