I recently went to a new little interesting looking place called, “The Italian Lady”. It’s in Pinetop, Az., and is literally a shack with 3 ladies crowded inside, small kitchen, serving fabulous Italian food.

We had two of the wonderful sandwiches, and I saw the soups at the bottom of the menu. We didn’t have time to order them, but the sausage/potato soup sounded fascinating. So I came home and made my own version. Very easy to do…..If you follow me on Instagram (askmehowiknowcb), you saw my 60 second video on making my own Italian Sausage.

1 lb. your choice ground meat: I used turkey. You can use Beef, pork, chicken, or any combination that sounds good to you.

1 Tbs. ground Italian seasoning

1 Tbs. granulated garlic powder (not salt)

1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. ground pepper

2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 or 2 Tbs. fennel seed (I like to toast it first in a dry skillet)

1 Tbs. red chili flake (I like hot so I do 2–or you can skip it completely)

Mix everything together with a fork or your clean hands. You are ready for a recipe to cook it, or make it into meatballs, or anything you like!

SAUSAGE POTATO SOUP

4 medium potatoes, peeled and boiled in water till tender

Saute sausage in olive oil in a skillet till light brown

When both above ingredients are ready, drain potatoes, drain oil off sausage and combine in a soup pot. Cover with water (about 4 cups). Here’s a trick: I used the potato water and added 4 tsp. chicken soup base or bouillon. Check flavors and adjust . NOTE: I always use flavored broths instead of plain water. Just add the flavor slowly, by tsp., so not to get it too salty.

HERE’S my own addition:

We love spinach in our soups. Healthy and easy! Just put a pkg of chopped or whole spinach in the soup , cover, and turn off the heat. It will cook VERY quickly!

This soup is wonderful served with parmesan cheese as a garnish.