minestrone

Minestrone

1 onion, chopped

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced/chopped

1 lb. sweet Italian sausage

2-3 carrots, sliced

2-3 small zucchinni, sliced

1 small head cabbage, sliced/chopped

3 cups beef broth

1 quart tomatoes

1 tbsp. dried basil

2 cans great Northern beans

In large stock pot, cook onion, garlic and sausage until sausage is no longer pink inside.  (I make sure to chop it up as it cooks so it's in bite-size pieces, too.)  Add carrots, zucchinni, cabbage, tomatoes, basil and broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes, until veggies are mostly tender, stirring every so often.  Add beans and simmer long enough to heat through (10-15 minutes usually does it).  Serve (messily, as my picture above shows), enjoy and try not to burn your mouth because you can't wait for it to cool down.

Pretty much every ingredient above is flexible.  Want a thinner soup?  Add more broth.  Don't like cabbage much or can't find a small head?  Use half a head (and pick up stuff to make coleslaw while you're at it because that's a yummy way to use up the leftover cabbage).  Jars of beans on sale?  Buy them instead!  I can my own tomatoes, but two 15oz cans of stewed tomatoes could probably substitute nicely.

And no, there's no pasta in there.  (But you could add some.)  :)

This recipe won 2nd place in a healty recipe competition at a local gym a few years back.  I have no idea how fantastically healthy this might really be, but I do know there's less fat in Italian sausage than hamburger, beans are a great source of fiber and look at all those veggies!  (And I'm prefectly okay with 2nd place - the prize was better (in my eyes) and I'm thrilled to share such a yummy recipe with anyone willing to try it.)

And because I worked on quilty stuff today...

...I know, I know...overachiever...

These are for #1 of the UFO challenge.  I thought about doing more blocks from the quilt I was working on yesterday, but decided that a 4-block month would be easy, so I might as well work on something and get myself ahead.  I'd lay them out, but you've all seen the Luka-nado and I know I won't get these together before he wakes up from his nap.

Happy quilting,

Katie

PS  I got my International Quilt Festival (in Cincinnati this year) brochure today.  I'm really considering going.  That Thursday preview night was so much fun to shop and there are a few classes that might be fun...