Nik's Pseudo-Minestrone

Credit for this one goes to.... Me!

Yup, I just whipped this beauty up an hour ago.

As I have mentioned before, I'm a nut for crock pot soup. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday, and he'll be working all day and sleeping away overnight, so tonight, I'm taking him out for dinner and movie (not in that order) to celebrate. I wanted to make a new soup today, but, knowing we will be eating in six hours or so, I made it for lunch. And, I "cheated" a little and cooked everything and then just heated it all together in the crock pot after.

I like to think of this creation as a type of minestrone, but there's no beans, so I am calling it "Pseudo-Minestrone."

Total cooking time for this one was about an hour, I guess? I didn't actually keep track.

Nik's Pseudo-Minestrone:

1 lb. ground sausage, cooked

1 large can condensed tomato soup + 3/4 can water

6 c. chicken broth

1 medium zucchini, cut into chunks

1 medium yellow squash/zucchini, cut into chunks

1 bag frozen stew vegetables

1 bag frozen California blend vegetables

1 bag frozen tortellini (I used tri-color cheese, it looks very Christmas-y)

1 T. minced garlic

pepper to taste

Italian seasoning to taste (I used a lot)

Original Blend Mrs. Dash to taste

• I started by browning my ground sausage and draining it.
• Pour tomato soup & the water into the crock pot, as well as the chicken broth. Add your seasonings and sample for flavor (my favorite part).
• Add the sausage.
• Cut your zucchini and zucchini (haha) into chunks. (see below, I used way more than one cup)

• In a large (I didn't have a large, so it was a tight fit) saucepan, place your zucchini and zucchini, and both bags of vegetables. I took out the onions, because I hate them. Add enough water to cover, and cover the pan with a lid. Boil/steam until done.

• In another saucepan, cook the tortellini according to the package directions. (Look how festive my tortellini is!)

• When everything's cooked, slowly add it to the crockpot.
• Heat thoroughly.

I topped mine with shredded mozzarella cheese, because I love cheese.

This is a less spicy soup compared to my usual regime, but it's pretty tasty, I think. Jake says it's "really good." Oh, correction, he just said, "I think you did amazing. This is really, really good!" Haha.