Lasagna Soup

Lasagna Soup.

I love Lasagna, so Lasagna Soup sounded intriguing.

I found the recipe on a farmgirl's dabbles and simply had to try it.

I used the recipe on a farmgirl's dabbles as a suggestion, and made my own sauce/soup.

It was just as delicious as her picture promises it to be!

Ingredients:

1 lb. bag of mixed beans for soup, cooked

1/2 lb. ground turkey

1 lb. chicken sausage, casings removed

1 diced sweet onion

2 cups chopped celery

1/2 orange or green pepper

4 cups sliced mushrooms

28 oz. can stewed tomatoes

1 small can tomato puree

1 T Italian seasoning

1/2 cup red wine

8 oz. ricotta cheese

1/2 to 3/4 cup parmigiano reggiano

I started with a 1/2 package of ground turkey and some chicken sausage for my omnivores.

I cooked a bag of mixed soup beans for my vegetarian version.

Basically, I made one pot of soup, then divided it in two, and put the meat in one.

Both had beans in it.

I sauteed some chopped onion, celery and a 1/2 of an orange pepper in 2 tablespoons of olive oil with 2 cloves of chopped garlic.

I think some sliced zucchini would be great in here, maybe some eggplant, too.

After the onions, celery & pepper gained some color sautéing, I added the mushrooms.

And 1/2 cup of red wine.

After draining the liquid of the stewed tomatoes into the pot, I gave them a rough chop so the pieces weren't so big.

You can do this in the pot, instead of on the cutting board.

Then add the beans to the vegetables.

Add water, enough to cover all the ingredients by at least one inch.

Add 1 tablespoon of dried Italian seasoning herbs.

Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, brown the meats.

After the meat is browned, divide the soup in two and add the meat to one pot.

Simmer gently until ready to serve.

I couldn't find mafalda pasta, but I found these Creste di gallo.

Don't they look fun?!

I found them at Claro's Italian Market in Covina.

Boil according to package instructions and set aside.

Prepare the cheese by adding 1/2 to 3/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano and mix well.

Put a dollop of the cheese mixture into each bowl and a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the noodles.

Ladle the hot soup on top.

Sprinkle basil leaves on top.

If you can't find the Thai basil (shown below), you can chiffonade the large basil leaves and sprinkle them on top, with a little bit of oregano.

Serve with warm bread.

Enjoy your meal!

***

It will be a year this month that Karen and Mitchell have been married.

Seems like just yesterday that she was little.

And I was that young.

Don't you just love pictures with baby teeth?

Karen and her husband Mitchell live in Northern California, so we don't get to see her too often, but we talk on the phone just about every day.

Karen's good at making sure we all stay close.

She was traveling home from Austin, TX from a work event not long ago, and had a three hour lay-over at LAX.

So we picked her up at the airport, went out for some lunch, had a nice visit, and for once she was happy her flight was delayed.

She was a flurry of chatter from the time she got into the car to the time we had to return her to the airport.

She wanted to be sure to get a picture of the three of us.

We miss her.

A lot.

But we know that her life with Mitchell will be full of adventure.

And lots of love.

We're very proud to have Mitchell in our family, and so happy for our precious daughter.

No printable recipe for this one yet.