Sausage & Pasta Soup

When it's cold and windy and rainy I always crave soup. Lucky for me I was able to adapt a very old recipe with the ingredients I had on hand so I didn't even need to go shopping.

Served with gluten free crackers from Mary's Gone Crackers (Caraway)

Ingredients:
-1 package (about 1lb) of sausage of your choice.  Use turkey sausage to save calories, I used sweet  Italian that I had in the fridge.
-2 boxes of low sodium chicken broth - 64 oz total (use boxes, not cans that can be lined with BPA!)
-1 cup potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces, I used red
-1 can low sodium or no salt added pinto or cannellini beans (I used pinto,) drained & rinsed***
-1/2 yellow onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon oregano (I used fresh from my garden)
-1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 6 oz gluten free pasta

*** Thanks to Kristine for pointing out that I forgot to list the beans in my original post!  And two notes on canned beans.  First, if you do not use low/no salt beans rinse the beans very, very well to help remove as much of the sodium as possible.  Second, I buy Eden Organics canned beans because the lining on their cans is BPA free.  A great place to buy them is online at Vitacost, if you don't already shop at Vitacost I highly recommend it...you can even email me for a link and I can get a discount on my next purchase.  :)

My sous chef peels

Directions:
Remove sausage meat from casings and roll into one inch balls (see below).  Brown in a splash of olive oil, being careful while turning them that they don't break up.  Sausage does not need to be cooked through at this point, just browned.  If you are using very fatty sausage I would suggest cooking well to help remove as much fat as possible.  When they are ready, set aside and drain fat, leaving just a bit to cook the onions & garlic.  Add the onions and garlic and cook until slightly browned.  Add oregano, thyme, broth and potato.  Simmer covered until potato begins to soften, about 15 minutes.  If sausages were not cooked through add them now and continue to cook until sausages and potatoes are done.  If you did cook the sausage through just add them for the last 5-10 minutes.  Add the beans in the last few minutes, also.

If working with any fatty meats I prefer to cook my soup early so it can cool and I can skim the fat.  If you cook a whole day ahead, the fat solidifies in the fridge overnight and can easily be discarded.  In this case, I let the soup cool for an hour or so and used one of those fat skimming cups with a spout (no idea what they are officially called!)

Now about the pasta - you can cook it in the soup for the last 8-10 minutes if you like.  The problem for me is that if you have leftovers, the pasta will be mush the next day.  I like to make the pasta in a separate pot and add to the soup when it's in the bowl just before serving.  I used De Boles Gluten Free Elbow shaped pasta.  Of the gluten free pastas I have tried I really prefer those made with corn.