Italian Sausage Hamburger Helper Soup

Total Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 5
• 1 (7 ounce) box betty crocker hamburger helper mix for beef pasta (i used italian sausage flavor, one 6.9 oz. box)
• 1 lb sweet italian sausage
• 3/4 cup diced onion
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 -3 dashes ground black pepper
• 2 (10 1/2 ounce) cans campbell's beef broth
• 1.5 (10 1/2 ounce) soup cans water
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot (i used baby carrots)
• 1 (9 ounce) zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 8 ounces frozen green beans
• 1/4 teaspoon italian seasoning
• grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Recipe

• 1 spray the inside of a stockpot, with a no-stick cooking spray.
• 2 to the pot, add the sausage, and season it with a bit of black pepper, if desired. (do not add salt to this recipe!).
• 3 brown the sausage over medium heat; stirring to break up the meat.
• 4 while the sausage is browning, cook the frozen green beans in a microwave, till they are about three quarters of the way done; drain beans and set them aside. (i cooked the beans in an 850 watt microwave for 6 minutes, but stirring them after 3 minutes i also season the beans with a bit of black pepper).
• 5 when sausage is done browning, then drain it in a colander.
• 6 to the stockpot, lightly saute' the onions for a minute or two. (add a bit of vegetable oil if need be).
• 7 add garlic to the pot, and saute' the garlic for about 1 minute.
• 8 place sausage back into the pot, then sprinkle the seasoning packet from the hamburger helper over all, and stir to coat the meat.
• 9 to the pot add the following ingredients: the beef broth, one and a half soup cans of water, the stewed tomatoes, sliced baby carrots, zucchini, green beans, the italian seasoning, and the rotini pasta that's included in the boxed hamburger helper.
• 10 bring soup to a boil, then lower the heat, and simmer the soup for about 14 minutes.
• 11 remove soup from heat, stir the soup, and serve.
• 12 if desired, sprinkle each bowl of soup with a bit of the parmesan cheese.
• 13 note: i noticed after cooking the soup, the carrots seemed to be slightly crisp. for those who'd prefer them to be a bit more cooked, i would do the following after adding the cooked meat, the seasoning packet, onion, garlic, broth, water, and just the carrots to the stockpot. bring those ingredients to a boil, then lower the heat, and simmer it for 5 minutes. then add the remaining ingredients, (the stewed tomatoes, zucchini, green beans and italian seasoning) and bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat, and simmer the soup for about 14 minutes.