Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup

This soup was a find on Pinterest. Oh, Pinterest. How did I ever keep track of all the amazing food I need to eat before you? Or all the art Lincoln and I need to create? Or all the DIY projects I need Lucas to complete for me? I love Pinterest.

You know what else I love? This soup. To say that Lucas loved it, too, would be an understatement. I stopped counting his compliments after the first 10 minutes of dinner, but they included the following:

"This soup is delicious."
"You need to make this again."
"It smells like an Italian restaurant in here."
"This is like eating pizza soup. Pizza soup!"
"I love this soup."
"We need to have this again."
"Did I mention I love this soup?"


Thank you, Pinterest. Thank you.

I made some slight changes to the original recipe (the link is below). Here is my version.

Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup
adapted from All Recipes 


Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage (ground, if available. if not, remove casings.)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups beef broth
1 cup water
1 can (14.5 oz) Italian style diced tomatoes
3/4 cup red wine
1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
8 oz. tomato sauce
1.5 cups sliced zucchini (coins or half moons)
1/2 bag frozen cheese tortellini

Directions:
1. In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add sausage and brown. Using a spoon, strain off all but around 1 Tbsp of the drippings. Leave the sausage in the pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the wine and cook down 2-3 minutes. Then add the tomatoes, beef broth, water, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, carrots, and zucchini. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
3. Skim off any fat, then cover and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
4. Add the frozen tortellini during the last 8-10 minutes of cooking.

Serve topped with grated parmesan cheese and crusty bread. SO GOOD.