Sausage, Spinach, and Sweet Potato Soup

After my last post about chicken stock, I decided that instead of freezing it all I'd use some to make soup for dinner. I had no idea what I was going to make - just that I had some stock. 

Well, I didn't have much at all. So I invented a recipe. I went through my freezer and found a couple things I thought would go good together. The star of this soup I'd say is the stock - so as long as I got some veggies and protein in there I was content. I do this a lot with my dinners. I have a mental checklist of protein, carbs, veggies, etc. and try to make sure my meal hits all the components. It is a natural talent that I'm still trying to figure out how to make money off of. Maybe being a meal planner for people who want to pay me? I love meal planning for my family, so maybe I can give it a shot! Let me know if you are interested!

On to the soup. I found some venison sausage and frozen spinach in the freezer, and had some sweet potatoes laying around too. I always have onions, which I put in every single soup I make, and these things made me feel satisfied about my soup requirements. As for carbs - I served it with some hearty whole wheat bread. 

I set aside some of my stock in a soup pot. 

We get our venison sausage made at a local place when we get our annual deer. If you don't have venison sausage, any sort of sausage you like will do. Or even leftover chicken would be good. I browned it in a skillet and drained the fat off.

Then I cooked some onions in the same pan. I cooked them low and slow so they got kind of carmelized.

Meanwhile, I cut up a large sweet potato.

Then put all my ingredients into the stock, along with my bag of frozen spinach.

I let it all simmer for about 45 minutes and it was done!

This makes a lot of soup....great for leftovers!

Sausage, Spinach, and Sweet Potato Soup

1 lb venison sausage, or other sausage of choice

1 onion, diced

1 large sweet potato, washed and diced

1 8oz bag frozen spinach

5-6 cups of chicken stock 

Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium high heat until browned. Drain the fat and set aside. Cook the onion in the same skillet over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until browned and softened. Meanwhile, place the sweet potato, spinach, and chicken stock in a large saucepan and set over medium-high heat. When the onions are done, add them with the sausage to the soup pot. Turn heat to medium low and let simmer for about a half an hour-45 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender. Or, until dinner time. 

Serve with whole wheat bread and butter.