Recipe: Bean and Turkey Sausage Soup

Hello, I made some soup for dinner last night and it turned out incredibly well so I thought I would share the recipe with you. After all, tis the season! Normally I make my bean soup with ham in it but I had left over smoked turkey, ring sausage and decided to give it a try. I wasn't disappointed. This recipe is so easy that a chef of any skill level could make it. Enjoy!

You will need:
2 tb. canola or olive oil (vegetable oil works too)
2/3 c. diced onion
1 full sized carrot or a handful of baby carrots (you need to grate these so for my fingers sake I usually buy a big one)*
2 tbs. flour
2 shots white wine (optional, but if you have it around it makes it just that much better)
1 can great northern beans, with juice
1 can chicken broth
8 oz. smoked turkey, ring sausage (ham will do too or you can just leave the meat out)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

In a 4 qt. sauce pot heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and carrot. Cook 5-8 minutes until the onions are tender. Add flour and make a rue (paste). Cook another 3 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn't burn. Add wine and stir. This will create a thick gravy. If you aren't using wine add about 1/4 c. of your broth, it will do the same thing. Slowly add in the rest of the broth, beans and sausage. Heat through over medium low heat for about 20 minutes. Add pepper and Worcestershire. Add salt if necessary. I think I also threw in some garlic powder at this point.

This will make 3 servings of approximately 315 calories.

*if you don't have a grater you can always buy a bag of shredded carrots and use about 1/4-1/2 c. of that or just chop your carrots. They will probably need to be pre-boiled though or they will be hard in your soup.