I had some broth leftover from a couple recipes I had made, and I didn't want to let it go bad, so I figured throwing together a hearty soup would be a good way to take care of it. I love being able to just look in the cupboard and fridge and grab a bunch of stuff that seems like it would make a good soup and toss it in a pot and voila! Soup! We've been getting these smoked sausages from Grocery Outlet lately, and I'm loving them. So easy to add some flavor and protein to breakfasts and they worked perfectly in this soup.
This recipe is pretty fast to make, and is nice for just grabbing a bunch of random stuff you have in your fridge, or in cans in your pantry. This was one of those recipes I made when I thought we didn't have anything in the fridge but upon closer inspection I realized I totally had a bunch of stuff that would go great together in a soup!
Ingredients
32-48 oz beef or chicken broth (or use some broth + add water. In a pinch I've used ramen chicken/beef flavoring + water in lieu of broth...haha)
2 smoked sausage links, sliced
1 (15 oz) can stewed tomatoes
2 sticks celery sliced
1 10 oz can corn
1/2 onion diced
dash oregano
salt & peper to taste
1/1 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 cups pasta
Put your broth in a large pot and add the sausage, stewed tomatoes and spices. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and let it simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes and then add the celery and corn. Saute the onion in butter/olive oil until it turns translucent and toss that in. Keep simmering for about 30-40 minutes more to let all the flavors mix together. I like to taste my soup as I go and add more spices if necessary. Add any spices you want, don't feel like you have to stick to what I listed! I'm not even sure if those are the exact measurements I used because I was adding a bit here & there as I went along. Read the instructions on your pasta to see how long it says to cook, add your pasta, and let cook until the pasta is done. Soup's ready!
I really love a soup that has a hearty meat added, though you could omit the meat from this recipe and use just veggie broth and make it vegetarian friendly! You could add more veggies (like some carrots and beans and diced potatoes) to make it more filling instead of meat. My favorite thing about making soup from scratch is how easy it is to just play around with the recipes and add something different the next time, or substitute something if you don't have all the "right" ingredients! Plus, it's hard to screw up soup.
