Sausage and Veggies Pasta Soup - 30 Days of THRIVE Day 1

Welcome Back!  Or if this is your first time joining us, welcome aboard!

Is it freezing and windy where you live?  Here in Denver, its 16 degrees with a windchill factor of -1 degrees... um, yah, fun :)  What's a girl to do on days like these?  Make a warm filling bowl of soup of course!

If you caught my post last Wednesday, you heard all about this new series we're bringing to you.  Since I started the blog almost 2 1/2 years ago, I have been dying to do something like this, but it is an immense undertaking to do alone especially while keeping up with all of the other posts that need to occur.  Thankfully, Brianna and Meilea are go getters who are up for the challenge of helping us bring you a complete 30 Day line up of pantry stable meals that you can depend on.

We will be adding a 100% THRIVE recipe to this series every Tuesday (and continue to have other recipes throughout the week and Thrifty Thursdays throughout the month). This first 30 Days of THRIVE series will finish the final week in October.  Then, in November, we will be able to offer a free ebook to you, our fantastic readers, as well as a shopping list that says exactly how many cans you will need of each thing to make each of these recipes once in the 30 days.  Do you want to build up a year supply? Us too! We will also create a list that shows you how to buy a years supply of these staples to have on hand in your pantry. Easy peasy, right?

When I was out of town for Convention a couple of weeks ago, we stayed with my Aunt Karen in Utah.  She made an amazingly filling, tasty soup in her crockpot that we could enjoy once we got back to the house.  It was called Tortellini Sausage Soup from Our Best Bites.  Yum! I love a good filling soup that is full of veggies and flavor.  Something I really thought was unusual about it though, is Kate added apple cider to the liquids to give it a bit of a sweetened flavor.  I didn't expect it, but I enjoyed it. I posted the original recipe at the bottom of the page in case there are some things that you have on hand (ie canned diced tomatoes or chicken broth) that you want to use instead of some of the THRIVE if you don't have a stocked pantry yet. Just remember to also reduce the water with the addition of your other items.

Now for the recipe!

I love the recipe and REALLY love tortellini, but I thought, I can definitely make this a lot faster if I'm not having to grate veggies or open a ton of cans. And, I can make it shelf stable if I use a different, non-refrigerated variety of pasta.  You have to admire the beautiful color of these THRIVE veggies fresh out of the can.

Plus, something I love to do is cook for multiple nights at a time.  Wouldn't it be brilliant if I made this in the pot, but then added all of the same ingredients in a Ziplock bag to use sometime in the near future. (Meal-in-a-Jars really speak to me :)) So, here you go, Meal in a Bag:

I recommend that you have these things on hand in your pantry already, but if you do not, the soup will still taste great on its own.

If you are making it in a pot on the stove:                                            If you are making the Meal in a bag variety:
-Cooking wine (optional to help get carmelized flavor into soup)     -Garlic Powder or Garlic Salt
-Olive Oil
-Minced Garlic (refrigerated)

So are you all dying to know how to make this recipe from 100% THRIVE? Here we go!
Print the Full Page Recipe

Delicious Sausage Pasta and Veggie Soup by Tiffany
2 c THRIVE FD Sausage
1/2 c THRIVE FD onions
2 T THRIVE chicken bouillon
*2 T THRIVE Orchard Apple Drink Powder
1/3 c THRIVE Tomato Powder
1/2 c THRIVE carrot dices
2 c THRIVE FD Zucchini
1 1/2 c THRIVE FD Diced Tomatoes
1/2 c THRIVE FD Spinach
^1- 1 1/4 c THRIVE elbow macaroni (Depends on if you like you soup thick and hearty or a little more soupy)
1 t THRIVE basil
1 t THRIVE oregano
2 T THRIVE Parsley

Preparing in a Crockpot or Meal in a Bag Directions:
Add all of the ingredients to a Ziplock bag, or dump straight into the crockpot.  Add 9 cups of water.  Stir the mixture a little bit to make sure that the seasonings are well blended.  If you added the optional 1 t garlic powder or garlic salt, you would add that at the same time as the rest of the ingredients.  Set on low for 6-8 hours.  You made need to add another cup or two of water towards the end of cooking time depending on how hot your crockpot gets.

Preparing on the Stove:
1. Add sausage, garlic, onions and 1/2 c water (and optional drizzle of olive oil) to warm pot and allow to brown for 3 minutes to carmelize in the pan, stirring occasionally.  (If you have cooking wine, add a splash of it now to remove carmelized flavor from pan)
2.Add 9 cups of water to the pot. Whisk in the tomato powder, apple drink mix, chicken bouillon, oregano, basil and parsley.
3. Finally add remaining ingredients before water reaches a boil: carrot dices, zucchini, spinach, tomato dices and noodles.  Allow the covered pot to simmer on low for 30-40 minutes.

We like to top it with rehydrated FD Monterey Cheese (or you can put it in dry if you want a little bit of crunch).  If you like it creamy, you can even add a little Sour Cream Powder. Yum.

^ Using 1 1/4 macaroni creates a more filling, thicker soup.  If you would like your soup to be a little more "soupy" decrease the macaroni to 3/4 or 1 cup depending on how liquidous you like it!

*Note that she uses apple cider to give it a little sweetness.  We really enjoyed it.  If you are afraid sweet won't be "your thing" you can leave this out and increase the chicken bouillon to 3 T.

To make it more diabetic friendly, you can use both switches thus decreasing the sugar from the pasta and apple drink mix.

 Original recipe from Our Best Bites:
Tortellini Sausage Soup
3 links Italian Sausage
4 cloves, pressed garlic
1 onion, diced
1/2 c water
2 - 15 oz cans chicken broth
1/2 c apple cider
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 c sliced carrots
1 t dried basil
1 t dried oregano
2 medium zuccini, grated
2 T parsley
8-10 oz package cheese tortellini

1. Remove the casings from the link sausages and crumble into a large soup pot.  To remove the casings, you can use a sharp knife to cut a slit down one side of the sausage then peel back the casing.
2.  Chop onion and add to pot with garlic and a drizzle of olive oil.  Continue cooking until onions are translucent and your sausage is cooked.  (This is one of my favorite smells on earth by the way!)
3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, juice, water, chicken broth, carrots, oregano, and basil.  Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour.  Add parsley and zucchini and simer for another 15 minutes or so.  Add the tortellini and cook until tender, then serve with bread and freshly-grated Parmesan.