Mushroom Sausage Soup

Mushrooms are a great way to bulk up soups and give them a meaty flavor.  I blended up ingredients in order to obtain a creamy consistency without anything bad.  This versatile soup recipe is full of veggies, flavor (without any extra spice) and I was able to cut down on the meat (sausage).  Feel free to play around with it by changing up veggies, adding greens (spinach or kale), adding beans or potato cubes.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound sausage
• 2 pack mushrooms, sliced
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 6-8 cups chicken, veggie or bone broth

Directions:

1. In soup pot, cook/saute ground sausage until done.  Drain excess fat.  Set cooked sausage aside in bowl.
2. In soup pot, use little olive oil to saute all vegetables and garlic.  Cook for 5 minutes on medium high heat.
3. Add diced tomatoes (with liquid) and 6 cups broth.  Continue on medium high heat until boiling.  Turn down heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
4. Pour half of the pot mixture into blender and blend until smooth.
5. Combine it all together in soup pot (cooked ground sausage, blended mixture, and soup mixture).  Stir together.  If soup is too thick, feel free to add more broth.

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