You Will Need:
1 lb. Rock House Farms Italian Sausage
1 large jar of home grown canned tomatoes (crushed) or a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
4 cups of low sodium chicken stock (I like to use homemade)
2 cups of water
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 sweet onion, diced
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp of dried each oregano, basil and parsley (you can use fresh here if you have it - yum!)
2 cups (2 big handfuls) of fresh spinach
1 cup of orzo pasta
1/2 - 1 cup of freshly shredded parmesan cheese
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Brown your Italian sausage in a large soup pot. Once browned, remove with a slotted spoon and use the fat (use Olive oil here if no fat) to cook your garlic and onion until translucent. Add in your tomatoes, chicken stock, water, spices and herbs. Add back in your sausage and bring the mixture to a simmer. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15-20 mins. If you're not ready to serve the pasta yet, stop at this point. You can make this early in the day and then later you can reheat to this point. When its close to chow time, bring it back up to a simmer. Add your spinach and allow it to simmer for about 5 mins before adding in the pasta. Adding in the pasta can be tricky, because if you cook it for too long it will swell and soak up all of your liquid. You don't want that. So I always wait until close to time for serving the soup before adding the pasta and cook it at a low simmer for about 5-7 mins, then turn off the heat to finish cooking. Add your fresh parmesan on top of your dished up soup and serve with cheesy garlic bread. So delicious! And it makes such good leftovers!
