Italian Sausage Soup with Gnocchi

Life is crazy busy for me. Crazy. I am hosting a formal fundraising banquet for our educational program this week. All that organization is tough enough without the added stress of doing so many of the jobs ourselves to save money. We have printed and bound our own masterplans, done all the promotional materials, met with the hotel, hand addressed all the invitations, made our own video...the list goes on! Because life is too much right now to think much about food at all, I have not been very creative in the kitchen. For prep day, I made a bid pot of soup to eat several times this week. It is very flavorful, and with the addition of low carb gnocchi, it is filling too.

I have been wanting to try something new with my gnocchi recipe that is in LCAF I. This time, I added a teaspoon of glucomannan powder, hoping for a bit of binding. It may have made them a little chewier and more like the potato variety, but not too different from the original. If you have glucomannan, give it a try, If not, it is certainly not necessary. The dough does hold together well in the boiling water though. The little pillows did not fall apart in the broth of the soup either ( though I did add them in at the end to make sure.)
They impart a nice cheesy, garlic flavor to the soup and just generally make a simple vegetable soup more fun.

I am packing the soup into canning jars for work. I think I will keep the gnocchi separate in a little baggie. I love to take soups to school for lunch. That way when the kids come in with chili dogs and onion rings, I at least have something more substantial than a salad. I took vegetable beef soup last week and actually had a student offer to trade me lunches. We will see what happens this week! To change things up, I may add a one ounce block of cream cheese to make it a cheesier version later this week.

Italian Sausage Soup with Gnocchi

Soup:
1 lb Italian style pork sausage
1 onion
1 yellow bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
2 zucchini, cut in slices, then quartered
2 tsp minced garlic
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
29 oz water
1 quart beef broth
1 tbsp Italian seasoning or Mediterranean seasoning
1 tsp salt (adjust if using salty broth)

Gnocchi:
3 eggs
1 tsp glucomannan (optional)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (canned, dried) plus a bit for garnish
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt

In a soup pot or Dutch oven, brown the sausage with the onion and peppers. When no pink remains in the sausage, add zucchini and garlic. Saute 5 minutes. Pour off excessive fat if any. Add the diced tomatoes, water (2 tomato cans full) broth, seasoning and salt. Simmer for 30 minutes while preparing the gnocchi.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs lightly. While whisking, slowly add in glucomannan powder, if using. Stir in Parmesan, coconut flour, garlic and salt. Place the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap. Form the dough into a rope shape about 1/2 inch wide. Chill for 30 minutes or place into the freezer for 10. Bring a medium pot of water to a rolling boil. Slice the dough into bite sized pieces (they will expand in the water) drop them one at a time into the boiling water. They will initially sink, then rise to the surface. Stir gently to keep the gnocchi separate. Cook for 3-4 minutes then remove with a slotted spoon. It may take 3-4 batches depending on the size of pan used. I keep gnocchi in a single layer to prevent sticking. If not using immediately in the soup, let them dry out for about 30 minutes before packing them for storage.

You don't have to make the soup to make the gnocchi of course. They are marvelous with marinara sauce too. They are more tender than traditional potato filled gnocchi, but a nice change from zucchini or cabbage noodles for us low carbers. I made mine with the fabulous Mediterranean seasoning from Target's Archer Farms. Love that stuff and I only have to grab one bottle from the spice rack! A few shakes of crushed red pepper would be great too.

Now here's to surviving this crazy week. Wish me luck. Our program really needs to find supporters if we are to keep the doors open! Bet most of you couldn't attend the banquet, but do remember that all my book sales money goes to keep the doors open for the kids, so think Christmas presents! Just click on the link of the LCAF books on the right. I am in I, II and V. V is a pre-order that will ship at Thanksgiving. If we get all the school's bills covered, and eventually even get salaries, I will have more time to spend in the kitchen.  I am so ready to hand over my fundraiser hat so I can concentrate on kids and cooking. The kids are worth it though!