Italian Sausage Soup

Brown in a skillet:

2 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 to 1 lb of sausage (I used Jimmy Dean's regular sausage roll)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (I did NOT add onions, I used onion powder instead)

In VitaMix Blender, mix just enough to create small carrot chunks:

2 large peeled carrots or 2-3 cups baby carrots
1 14oz can cut tomatoes, undrained
1 14 oz can of chicken broth (2 cups)

Put all in the crockpot and add:

2 stalks celery, chopped
1 chopped garlic clove
1 tsp basil
1 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp dried sage
4 more cups chicken broth
1-2 cans 14oz can kidney beans, undrained
1 more 14oz can cut tomatoes, undrained

Cook on LOW 5-6 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours.

In the original recipe: about 30 minutes before dinner, add 1 uncooked cup of elbow macaroni or pasta of your choice. I obviously will leave this out when eating low carb. This recipe can also be done on the stove top. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Original recipe can be found on our crock pot blog: The Family Crockpot