It's a soup kind of night.......

I don't know about you all, but we have been in this funk of a weather pattern, with rain every day and temperatures in the 50s.  After a while, you just start feeling cold and damp all the time.  And in my world, cold + damp = soup.  So, I decide to make Sweet Sausage soup.  Not sure if I have made it before for you, but this time it came out delish, so maybe I did something different.

It's time to share it with you....

For me, there are a few standards for making soup.  You need to cook everything a little less than done, so that the flavors can combine when they are added together to finish cooking.  I cooked the sausage, which I took out of the skin and crumbled.  When done, I threw it in a soup pot.  Next up, chopped vidalia onion.  Sauteed that, then in the pot.  Dumped a can of diced tomatoes in the pot, and a whole box container of chicken broth.  Only the sausage and onion needed cooking.

While all this is going on, I cook some regular white rice in another pot with chicken broth.  A trick I learned to add flavor, is to add some water to the pan the onions were cooked in.  When all the juices are released in the water, I add that to the rice while it is cooking.  Once the water is absorbed, I add that to the pot.

The garlic and fresh spinach I add last, just before I serve it.  It seems like the more you cook garlic, the more the flavor is lost.  And.... the spinach is so yummy when it is just wilted, and not cooked to death! I then chopped the fresh garlic, and add that and the spinach.  The last thing is the Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.  You'll find that once you add the Parmesan cheese, it melts and settles to the bottom of the pan, so just keep stirring til it's time to serve.  Check for salt and pepper needs!

When all is said and done and everyone has eaten, my soup pot is 3/4 empty!  The fresh flavors of garlic and fresh basil, along with the spinach only being wilted is what makes this so delicious!  Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.....