Today I am sharing with you a fabulous recipe; one that has been tested on real live subjects two times, and passed with flying colors both times! The first time I made it was just for Lloyd, and he enjoyed it so much that I made it again over the holidays for all of our family.

As usual, I tweaked this recipe because I liked so many things about a few different recipes. Also, as usual, I sort of guessed on some of the amounts, so I apologize about that, but I think it’s pretty easy to recreate without exact measurements.

Ingredients:
1 pound Italian sausage
1 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large onion, diced
1 T minced garlic
approx 32 oz chicken broth
4-6 potatoes, thinly sliced
1 cup heavy cream, or milk
1 pkg tortellini

Cook the sausage and red pepper flakes until browned, and then drain and set aside. (I used my biggest pot; the original recipe calls for a dutch oven, which I don’t own, but the pot worked fine). Cook the bacon until crisp (this part seemed to take the longest, and I also used more than 4 slices of bacon the second time I made it—after all, I was feeding 5 grown men!). Drain the bacon, but leave a little bit of the drippings in the bottom with the bacon. And it’s also fine if a little bit of the sausage is still in there; you don’t have to be really picky because everything is ending up in this pot eventually anyway.

Next, add in the onions and garlic, cooking them until the onions are translucent, or about 5 minutes. Then add your chicken broth. You’re trying to make a thick soup here, but keep in mind that you will be adding potatoes and pasta, so there needs to be plenty of liquid to soak up. The original recipe called for over 60 oz of chicken broth, which seemed like a lot to me. I used one of the large boxes of broth, which I think was around 32 oz. Feel free to experiment with that part; I guess it depends how soupy you like it, too. I bought lots of broth, but when I was pouring it in, it just seemed like too much.

Bring it to boil over high heat, and then add the potatoes and continue to boil until the potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes). About 10 minutes into the boiling, add the tortellini as well. I’m sorry I can’t remember the actual size of the package, but it was probably around 12 oz. (I got the multi-colored kind for Emma.)

Reduce the heat to medium and add the heavy cream or milk (I used milk because I forgot to buy the heavy cream and it turned out just fine). Also add the cooked sausage and heat the whole thing through. Then serve it with a smile, and maybe some salad or something.

This recipe is very heavy, but really delicious. Emma even liked it when I used mild sausage. The second time I used hot sausage, though, and it was too spicy for her. There were no leftovers, and even Lloyd’s dad ate quite a bit, which I took to mean the recipe was a keeper, as he typically only eats raw foods. So if you’re looking for another way to serve good ol’ meat and potatoes, here it is!

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