Italian Wedding Style Soup

So this is one of Laura’s favorites soups that she loves to buy in a can from time to time.  This recipe was our version of the soup, not an exact representation but I tried to make it a little bit healthier using turkey sausage instead of pork and added kale instead of spinach.  Also Laura loves hearty thick soups so she convinced me to add some quinoa to it to thicken it up.

This was a great quick soup and made for great leftovers.

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ingredients

1 lb turkey sausage
1/2 large onion or about a 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
4 stalks of celery chopped
3-4 carrots depending on size
3 cups chopped kale
1/2 cup quinoa
8 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp Sherry wine
1 tsp ground sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese per serving (optional)
1 tbsp fresh parsley (optional)

directions

1) Heat a pan to medium high, add 1 tbsp olive oil, once hot add the ground turkey sausage, season with salt, pepper, sage, thyme, paprika, oregano, and garlic.  Cook until browned, then remove from the pan along with any excess grease.
2) Add a little more olive oil to the pan and let it heat up again, then add your veggies, season with salt and pepper, and cook almost to the point of them being soft, roughly 10 minutes.
3) Add Sherry and let the alcohol simmer off, 2 minutes roughly.
4) Add quinoa, kale and chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Cook for 25 minutes.
5) Garnish with cheese and parsley if you like otherwise ENJOY!