My favorite soup

Anytime someone is brave enough to ask me what my favorite food is, they are likely to get a long discourse on the categories, reasons, etc., that they have to specify before I can answer the question. With food, my categories range all the way from the highest order of all--"the meal I'd request before execution" to "do not willingly put it in my mouth" like taco bell, or mcdonald's burgers, which are not even worthy of capitalization, as far as I am concerned. However, McDonald's sausage egg McMuffins do fall in the "bundles of supreme joy" category. I like those, although I can't eat them too often, or they start to taste weird and chemically. But, every six months to a year or so, when I get up and out without having breakfast early enough to buy one, I dub them "my little bundles of joy."

Anyway, regardless of the above paragraph, I do have a favorite soup. It has been my favorite for several years now, and I love it. I adore it. I look forward to Autumn, so that I can make it. It is my very favorite soup, all categories aside. Upon the request of a few family members, who also love it (although most likely not with my same wild abandon) here is the recipe. It is such a favorite of mine that I almost didn't share the recipe. Part of my greedy self was holding it back, but my interest in the greater good won out--something this great must be shared. Never mind the fact that I could have maybe won a Nobel Prize with this recipe if I hadn't made it public. (Hey, they gave it to Al Gore. This would be no less absurd, IMHO. Just sayin'.) It is in your hands, Dear Internet. Cherish it and use it wisely.

Here's all the stuff...Start out by chopping your garlic, onions, and sauteing with the hot Italian sausage. If you're a spicy food wimp, you could use mild. But, I like my food to kick me in the teeth at least a little when I eat it, so I use hot. I love sausage. I must have at least 8 packs of sausage in my freezer at all times. 4 of which must be Italian sausage. I'm weird like that.I was using my own home-canned tomatoes, so I boiled them for 20 minutes before I added anything else. Botulism paranoia.

Then I chopped up all my herbs, and my zucchini. You could use dried herbs if you don't have fresh. I may or may not have done that before. I like my soup chunky, so I chop rough.
Mix together your beef broth, water, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, herbs and zucchini. Add in your cooked meat mixture.

Bring to a boil, then turn down to medium or medium low. Whatever keeps it at a simmer. Simmer for about an hour. If you need to simmer it longer sometimes I just add more broth. The measurements for the liquids in this recipe are very forgiving. I just usually don't add water, cuz why would I want to water this amazing deliciousness down?

About 1/2 hour before eating, add in the chopped bell pepper. Have I mentioned how very much I love red bell peppers?! They are one of my favorite ingredients. :-) Here's my rule:

Buy twice as many red bell peppers as you need. Each time a recipe calls for one, cut up two. Eat one while you do whatever you're doing with the other one. I call them God's chips. Why would you need to eat yucky, salty, processed chips, when you could have a delicious crunch like this in your mouth?!

Add in your tortellini, and your Merlot. I suppose you could make this without the Merlot if you wanted to, but I can't guarantee the taste. It totally pulls all the flavors together. I forgot to take pictures of these steps, so you'll have to just imagine it. :-)

This is what it should look like when you are done.

You didn't catch that? Ok, here's another. Look at it, and drool! SO GOOD!

Naomi's Italian Tortellini Soup

1 pd. Hot Italian Ground Sausage

1 Med Onion (chopped)

9-10 cloves garlic (or 15 if you're me)

Saute' these together. Some might drain the grease, but I like grease, so I don't. I know, it's totally white trash, but I don't care. It's mixed in with a huge pot of soup. And it tastes good. You'll never know it's there, as long as you eat it hot. You just have to remember to NOT LOOK at your leftovers before you put them in the microwave.

Meanwhile, in a pot on the stove... mix together...

5 cups Beef Broth

1/2 cup water

2 cups stewed tomatoes

about a 1/4 cup each fresh basil, and Italian parsley

2 TBSP fresh oregano

15 oz. can of tomato sauce

1 small zucchini, cubed

Combine all ingredients, and stew for about an hour.

1/2 hour before eating, (or so) add tortellini of your choice. Most of the time I use the DaVinci box of cheese filled tortellini, (in the pasta aisle, as opposed to the refrigerated section) but this time I wanted bigger tortellini's so I used fresh from Costco.

1 Red or Green Bell Pepper, chopped.

3-5 glugs of a good Oaky Merlot, or to taste

Serve with Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese.

These folks really liked it! :-)

A PS at a later date... sorry these food pics are so yellow!! That's what happens when you have a dark kitchen...