Delicious Chickpea and Sausage Minestrone

Last night I tried another new soup recipe. I love homemade soup and it was definitely the weather for it.... the snow was coming down!

This is the next morning.

I was catching up on my magazines and came across this interesting recipe (chickpea and sausage minestrone) in the most recent Cooking Light magazine. I made the soup without the pasta in the afternoon and let it simmer for a bit (it doesn't say you have to do this). I used the turkey sausage crumbles that I had in the freezer and it made it so simple. When we were ready to have dinner I cooked the pasta and added the last few ingredients. I also added a little of the pasta water to give it a little more broth.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about how this would turn out. It was delicious! Rick and I both enjoyed it! We had it with some oyster crackers, but I'm sure you could have bread or biscuits too. Give it a try on one of these cold winter days! It makes a great lunch the next day too.

Question: I used ground red pepper that I had in the cabinet. I'm not sure whether this is the same as the crushed red pepper they suggest in the recipe or not, so if anyone has any thoughts let me know.