Snow and Soup

Hello everyone! I hope ya'll have had a really good week. Today is Friday. YAY!

So, yesterday we had a wonderful amount of snow fall. We got about 3 inches and everywhere I look has a most beautiful coat of snow. I went up in to West Omaha yesterday just as the snow was trying to start (in the event that the snow REALLY came down) I wanted to be sure we had enough coffee in the house to be able to withstand being snowed in. AND I also wanted to pick up a few things so I could make a craft item that I thought up. Not exactly sure how it will work, but I picked up the necessary things in order to make it so we'll see.... I'm going to begin work on it this weekend. ;-)

Back to the subject. Yesterdays snow.

It was so pretty. But, driving in it wasn't. It was rather dicey until the snow plows showed up. Then the roads were quite drive-able. It always amazes me how so many people drive too fast in snow. On my way home, there was a truck that I thought was going to slide on top of me. He was (yes, it was a man no less) who was driving too fast and began to slip and slide and suddenly he stopped half way up a hill. I saw it and realized that he had stopped as I was beginning my climb. I slowed down even more and was thinking about cutting onto a side street to avoid him. Just as I was about to do that, he got his truck moving and going up the hill. And wouldn't you know, after he got up the hill he sped up. Still slipping side ways, mind you. ACK! Driving in the snow is not difficult. But driving in the snow trying to avoid getting into accidents with other (less safe driving) drivers is a whole other story! Sheesh!

Okay, done with the snow part and on to the soup part.

A few weeks ago I found a new blogger. She is actually a relative to a friend of mine. It is Rhonda at "What's Cooking with Rhonda". Well, I went back to see what other posts had been put up and found a recipe for Lasagna Soup. It sounded quite intriguing so I decided to make it yesterday. It was a cold day with lovely snow, why not have a nice warm bowl of yummy soup. Right?! Well, I must tell you. This soup is wonderful! And amazingly enough it does taste like Lasagna! We had invited our neighbors son (neighbors are on a trip and their teenage son stayed home because he didn't want to miss school) and he LOVED the soup. So much so that he asked me to give his mom the recipe! I altered it somewhat. I felt that it needed some herbs that I normally put in my Lasagna recipe. And once I had done that, it just put it over the top! And it's really a very easy recipe.

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Yummmmmmm!

Lasagna Soup

2 pounds ground Italian sausage

4 cups diced onions

2 cups diced carrots

4 Tbsp minced garlic

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. basil

2 tsp. parsley

8 cups chicken broth

2 lrg. (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1 (15 oz) can tomato paste

4 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup campanele pasta, uncooked

2 cups fresh spinach

shredded mozzarella cheese

shredded parmesan cheese

Brown meat, onions and carrots with garlic. Add broth and crushed tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes. Add tomato paste, mushrooms, pasta and cook until pasta is al dente. Add spinach and cook until wilted.

Serve soup with mozzarella and parmesan on top.

(Rhonda's note: When I made this I was a half cup short of the 4 cups of onions. I had some asparagus left over from the previous nights dinner. I put it in the food processor with the carrots and put that in the soup too. I think you could play with this recipe a little if you wanted to add different vegetables. Kids probably wouldn't even know.) Enjoy!!

**I added the oregano, basil and parsley since those herbs are also in my lasagna recipe and it made the soup taste even more like my regular lasagna dish!

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So, there you go. A most delicious comfort food in a bowl! Give this recipe a try and tell us what you think!

Now, I must be off. I've got a sock I'm working on ya know! ;-)

Ya'll have a great day and I'll see you back here soon!