recipe: crockpot lasagna soup

it's been hard for me lately to share recipes..

i've tried to have everything we eat follow along the lines of clean eating

as well as being gluten free.

neither of which is a particularly easy task.

planning our meals takes up much more time than it used to..

and coming up with clean & gluten free alternatives is somewhat exhausting..

especially for someone like me who doesn't particularly care for the food planning bit as it is.

but i've managed to keep us pretty close on the clean eating..

learning what to avoid & how to replace..

some meals you just have to know what to substitute..

and then sometimes..

i just gotta say..

this is as good as i can get..

take this lasagna soup.

SOO good,  by the way.

here's a link to the original..from 'a farmgirl's dabbles' 

and then below i've shown the changes i made.

Lasagna Soup:

adapted from a farmgirl's dabbles

(*my adjustments)

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
*1 lb of turkey sausage

*1 onion, cut into slivers

4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 T. tomato paste
*1 28-oz. can organic crushed tomatoes

2 bay leaves
*4c. organic low-sodium chicken stock

*2c. water
*2c. tinkyada brown rice fusilli pasta (gluten free)

*4T. dried basil
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
*8 oz. skim-milk ricotta
*1/4 tsp. garlic salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened, about 6 minutes.

2. Add garlic, oregano. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

3. While the above is cooking, add crushed tomato, bay leaves, chicken stock, basil & water to crockpot. Stir to combine. Simmer in crockpot for 2-4 hours.

4. Right before serving, boil pasta according to package directions & add to crockpot.

5. For the cheesy yum, combine ingredients & serve dollop on top of soup, sprinkle with small amount of mozzarella.

like i said this soup was mmm, GOOD!

good enough to eat two nights in a row.

and the gluten free pasta, in case you are curious..

is GOOD.

you can't even tell the difference.

honest.

and truth be told.. it probably held up better the second night than regular pasta would have.

xo-k