Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup

My friend Brita emailed me the other day and in the course of the email, she mentioned she was making this soup. It sounded so yummy, I went out and found the recipe, shopped for the ingredients this weekend, and made it today.

The original recipe calls for zucchini, but it's a little late in the season for zucchini around here, so I used peas instead. But I will make this again nearer the summer season, because I bet it's really yummy with zucchini. However, the peas were quite tasty! This recipe comes from onceamonthmom.com. She says it serves six, but I'm telling you, this serves 10. This a lot of soup. I did lighten this up by using chicken Italian sausage. I also used whole wheat cheese tortellini.

This is perfect for our cool, fall evenings.

Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup
Ingredients:
1 lb Italian sausage (I used 12 oz. chicken Italian sausage)
1 cup onion, chopped
2 tsp garlic, minced
5 cups beef stock
2 cups tomatoes, chopped
8 oz tomato sauce
2 cups zucchini, sliced (I used 10 oz. frozen peas)
1/2 cup carrot, chopped finely
1.5 cups red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tbs basil, dried
1 tbs oregano, dried
10 oz. tortellini, cheese-stuffed (I used a 9 oz. pkg of whole wheat cheese tortellini)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 tbs olive oil (if you are using chicken Italian sausage)

1. Saute Italian sausage in heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat until cooked through, about 10 minutes. **Because I used chicken Italian sausage, it doesn't have much fat in it, so I added 1 tbs olive oil when cooking my sausage.** Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Pour off all but 1 tbs drippings. Add onion and garlic to Dutch oven and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. **I didn't have any drippings, so I added 1 more tbs olive oil to the onions and garlic.**

2. Return sausage to Dutch oven. Add stock, tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, carrot, bell pepper, wine, basil and oregano. **If using peas, do not add them yet.** Simmer until veggies are tender, about 40 minutes. Add peas and cook for 3 minutes. Add the tortellini to boiling soup and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Shred Parmesan on top and serve.

Again - for me, this is about 10 servings.