Quick and Tasty Italian Sausage Soup with Vegan Substitutions

I recently made Italian Sausage Soup with some fresh, local sausage. It was so delicious! The recipe is from Slashfood; it is so speedy and requires minimal knife work. I've included the specific ingredients I used in our soup in parentheses. Vegan suggestions follow.

Slashfood's Italian Sausage Soup
serves 3-4

• 8 ounces hot or sweet turkey Italian sausage (I used the fresh sausage from a local farm)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced*
  
• 2 cups fat-free, less sodium chicken broth
  
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano (We used Muir Glen's Diced Tomatoes with Basil and Garlic)
  
• 1/2 cup uncooked small shell pasta (try 60 % Whole Grain Organic Small Vegetable Shells from Eden Organic)
  
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove casings from sausage. Add sausage and garlic* to pan and cook about 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain; return to pan.

While the sausage is browning, start a separate pot and boil water for pasta. Salt the water and cook the pasta until al dente.

Add broth and tomatoes to the saucepan with the sausage in it and bring to a boil over over high heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in spinach until wilted.

Add desired amount of pasta to the bottom of a soup bowl and ladle sausage soup on top. Sprinkle each serving with cheese and basil.

*garlic not included in original recipe

Tovah! Mikus! Eric and Tiffany!! Try this recipe with Tofurky Italian Sausage and your preferred brand of vegetable broth. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast. I think you'll like it. Will you try it? You should.

French Breakfast Radishes

These French Breakfast Radishes are so pretty! Their flavor is much more subtle than standard radishes from the grocery store; they're sweet and mild without the strong peppery flavor that you expect from radishes.

We used them in an awesome Senor Caesar salad with fresh homemade dressing. I roasted garlic and a jalapeño for the tangy, delicious dressing. It was creamy but not at all heavy. This is our second great winner from Married with Dinner (the first was last night's soup).

News in Blurb Form

• J and I spent Sunday morning at the Ithaca Farmers Market. In addition to a great assortment of produce, we picked up some ultra-fresh, local bratwursts from The Piggery that we put on the grill for Monday dinner.
  
• John, Julie, Jack and Tony were in town on Sunday and Monday. It was great to see everyone and catch up for a little while. Hopefully, Jesse and I will be able to visit them sometime this fall. Jack and Tony are getting so big; Tony will be in kindergarten in a couple of weeks!
  
• I got the job at the bagel shop.
• Jesse didn't get the job at Goodrich.
• I did 8 miles on my bike today. I didn't randomly fall over and I didn't almost run into anyone so I'm improving!

Please send good energy J's way.

Art! Art! Get Your Art Here!: The Preview

A couple of weeks ago, I told you that Mikus is working on a limited number of handmade masks that will be available come fall. The preview is featured above!

"They are still waiting to be painted, stabbed, stitched, and stapled."

Details regarding designs, prices and how to get 'em while they're hot will follow. Mikus' art is incredibly innovative and eccentric. If you are interested in my unsophisticated opinion, the neatest thing abut Mikus is that he seems to always have a bee in his bonnet about his next fresh design, scheme, medium (he was recently working on thumb pianos). If you haven't checked out Mikus' art, get that shit done! Find it here. Some of my personal favorites include "Family Photo," "Snowman," and "royal owl." I hope some day to have a mantle and some Mikus art to hang above it.


via Studio Dormant

Art! Art! Get Your Art Here!

Mikus is working on a limited number of handmade masks that will be available come fall. Details regarding designs, prices and how to get 'em while they're hot will follow. If you haven't checked out Mikus' art, what are you waiting for? Find it here. Some of my personal favorites include "Family Photo," "Snowman," and "royal owl." I hope some day to have a mantle and some Mikus art to hang above it.


via Studio Dormant

I Smell Parsley and I Think of My Dad

Today, in preparation for a barbecue with our neighbors, I was chopping fresh Italian parsley for a French potato salad with Dijon mustard and fines herbes. Do you know how certain smells immediately remind you about something or someone? Well, the fragrance of the parsley instantly made me think of my dad. I grew up always finding dad in the kitchen or in the garden tending to the produce that would eventually make its way to the kitchen. Dad was frequently dashing out to the garden for asparagus, tomatoes, string beans and a wide array of herbs: dill, basil, mint, parsley and more.

I know my interest in and penchant for gourmet cooking and my maybe-its-green thumb comes directly from the Mastroberti DNA and was fostered by my parents. I am certain that there is an herb garden if not a more comprehensive vegetable garden in my future. I'm really lucky that I have a dad and mom who value fresh, homegrown and homemade foods and have instilled that appreciation in me.