Recipe for Italian Sausage and Zucchini Soup

I mentioned I was having a party tonight for some of my family, and promised to share some photos of the soup. Then I realized that I already had a photo of one of the soups in my archives, so I thought I'd share it before the party. This is from my recipe archives, first posted October 6, 2005. I've made this for several occasions since and it's been a hit everywhere I've served it.

Italian Sausage and Zucchini Soup
(Makes 6-8 servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

Ingredients:
5 links hot Italian Sausage (I used turkey Italian Sausage)
olive oil, for browning sausage
1 small onion, diced small
1 T finely chopped fresh garlic (or garlic puree)
2 cups diced zucchini (see instructions below)
6 cups chicken stock (or 4 cans chicken broth, reduced slightly)
3 cups frozen roasted tomatoes (or 2 cans diced tomatoes with juice)
1-2 cups water
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried basil
1 cup Dreamfield's macaroni
3 T minced fresh basil (optional)
fresh grated Parmesan cheese for topping soup

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in large nonstick frying pan. then add sausage and cook until until well browned and firm. Remove sausage to cutting board and cut in 3/8 inch slices. Put sausage back in frying pan and brown both sides of slices well.

While sausage browns, combine chicken stock, roasted tomatoes, oregano, and basil in medium stock pot and turn to a very low simmer. When sausage is thoroughly browned, add it to stock mixture. Put onions in pan you used to brown sausage and saute 3-4 minutes, until starting to soften. Add minced garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more. Add onions and garlic to soup. Deglaze pan with 1 cup water and add to soup, then simmer 30 minutes.

Cut ends off zucchini and cut lengthwise into fourths, then trim away all but 3/8 inch of white part. Cut zucchini strips into 1/2 inch slices. Add zucchini to soup and let simmer 15 minutes.

Taste soup for flavor and add second cup of water if needed. Add pasta, check heat to be sure soup is at a very gentle boil and cook 15 minutes more. Stir in fresh basil if using and cook 5 minutes more. Serve soup with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

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South Beach Suggestions:

If you are a serious South Beach Dieter or low carb eater, I hope you didn't gasp when you saw the 1 cup of macaroni in this soup. First, there's a lot of sausage, zucchini, tomatoes, and broth compared to the amount of macaroni. Second, if you're careful about using Dreamfields pasta (which is absolutely delicious and has only 5 net carbs per serving) the carb count is very minimal. The macaroni does add a lot to the soup, but you could leave it out if you wanted.