Carlo and I had a wonderful time camping at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon over the Labor Day weekend. Aside from a torrential thunder and hail storm on Friday night, the weekend was perfect from the cool alpine weather to the breathtaking scenery.
Carlo also picked out some great food to cook too. We made a huge pot of Texas Beef Brisket Chili on Friday night and it totally warmed us up after getting drenched in the thunderstorm! Making the chili was really easy: we chopped everything up and made the adobo sauce before we left Vegas, and just put everything in baggies or containers in the cooler. We threw everything into a huge pot on top of our portable stove and the chili cooked itself while we sat around the campfire drinking beer.
We also prepared all the ingredients for an Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup, but since we came back a day early due to more storms heading to the Grand Canyon, we made it when we got home, even though it would have been another great recipe to whip up on the camp stove. This soup recipe is super easy to make and is very hearty from the combination of sausage and the cheese tortellini. After eating this, I wondered why I don’t eat tortellini more often, they are so yummy! The Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup feeds 6 people at $1.64 per serving.
Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup
1 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 cup chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, sliced
5 cups beef stock or canned broth
1 14.5-ounce can chopped tomatoes
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 large zucchini, sliced
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 medium-sized red or green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons dried oregano
8 to 10 ounces purchased fresh cheese tortellini
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Saut?© the Italian sausage in a heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it is cooked through, around 10 minutes. While it is cooking, use the back of the spoon or spatula to break up the sausage into small pieces. Once the sausage is cooked, transfer it from the pot until later.
Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the sausage drippings from the Dutch oven, and then add the onion and garlic and saut?© them until translucent, about 5 minutes. Return the sausage to the pot and add the stock, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, carrot, bell pepper, wine, basil, and oregano. Let everything simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 or so minutes.
Throw the fresh tortellini soup into the soup and cook them until tender, around 5-8 minutes. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper.
Ladle the soup into some bowls and sprinkle with a little freshly grated Parmesan to top off the dish.
This photo that I took of a sunset right by our campsite reminds me of streaky bacon for some reason, but wow, what an incredible sunset!
