Ingredients

The following ingredients have 4 Servings
  • 1 pound bulk sweet or hot Italian sausage or any link sausage (squeezed out of its casing)
  • 2 cups chopped onion
  • 1 cup sliced or diced carrots
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 14.5 ounces Italian-style stewed tomatoes (chopped)
  • 8 ounces tomato sauce
  • 1 - 1 ¼ cups uncooked Mafalda pasta
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2 cups fresh mushrooms
  • 2 cups fresh spinach (thinly sliced)
  • 1 ½ cups provolone or mozzarella cheese (diced)
  • ¼ cup Parmesan cheese (grated or shredded, plus more for topping)
  • ¼ cup fresh basil (torn)

Instruction

  • Grease the interior of the slow cooker crock with butter or nonstick cooking spray.
  • If you have time, cook the sausage in a skillet over medium, breaking up sausage with a wooden spoon. Stir in the onions after the sausage is no longer pink. Sauté the onions until soft. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the meat and onions to the prepared crock. Discard the drippings.   Note: If you don’t have time, you can crumble the uncooked sausage straight into the crock. Stir in the onions, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon.
  • Add the carrots, chicken broth, chopped stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce, stirring to combine.
  • Cover: Cook on Low 4 to 5 hours.
  • Stir in the uncooked pasta and garlic.
  • Cover and continue cooking on Low 1 to 1 ½ hours or until the pasta is tender but not mushy.
  • Stir in the mushrooms. Cover. Cook another 10 minutes on Low.
  • Just before serving, stir in the sliced spinach. (No need to cook the spinach; the heat from the soup will wilt it.)
  • To serve, divide the diced provolone or mozzarella cheese evenly into bowls and ladle the soup over top.
  • Top with the Parmesan cheese and torn fresh basil.