We needed soup, because everyone in our house was sick. I didn’t have any chicken, but I did have sweet Italian turkey sausage, so I decided to make a soup that complemented the sausage. I thought of tomato, automatically, but we didn’t want it too strongly tomato-ey. So, this soup is mostly chicken stock based, with some tomato paste to flavor it. Also, since we are all sick, I thought we needed some onions, garlic, parsley, and peppers. I wanted to use orzo, but found out that I was out of it, so I used alphabet soup. The kids found that fun, though, so no complaints.

Turkey Sausage, Spinach, and Alphabet Noodle Soup

½ pound Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed, crumbled
1 small onion, chopped
1-½ teaspoons canola oil
4-6 garlic clove, minced
½ bell pepper, chopped
½ cup parsley, chopped
40 ounces chicken or vegetable stock
½ cup uncooked small pasta shape, such as ditalini, orzo, or alphabet shapes
8 ounces fresh spinach leaves, cut into strips
1 cup frozen peas (or other frozen vegetable(s) )
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

In a large saucepan, heat oil. Add sausage, onions, garlic, parsley, cumin, paprika, and sweet peppers. Cook over medium heat until sausage is no longer pink.
Add stock and peas. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add spinach and noodles. Cook 8 minutes longer. Serve.