italian sausage soup with tortellini

If there's one thing that Italians are good for, it's food. And anyone can make great Italian inspired dishes, regardless of their lineage. You just need patience, a good spice rack, good ingredients and the ability to remember that making your own awesome food is pretty fucking easy. I love making soups for my family since they heat up well later in the week for lunches and snacks, and they're great to make in a slow-cooker.

The Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage (hot or sweet)

- olive oil

- 1 32oz can crushed tomatoes

- 32oz beef stock

- 15oz can pink beans

- green beans (fresh or canned)

- your spice rack (garlic, salt, black pepper, onion powder, crushed red pepper, oregano)

- 1 lb frozen cheese tortellini


The Rundown:

- in slow cooker, combine crushed tomatoes, beef stock, green beans and pink beans and spice to taste

- remove sausage from casings, break up and brown in olive oil, seasoning to taste

- add to slow cooker, stir well

- let simmer for 4-6 hours, adding tortellini during last 30 min