Hearty Sausage Soup

There are many different recipes floating around for this kind of soup.  I adapted this one from the back of Nabisco's Premium Saltine Crackers box.

Mainly, I only changed the kind of sausage and beans--and I used whole grain rotini pasta.

Besides the main ingredients, I like all of the 'background' flavors in here-- because everything blends together so well, nothing in particular stands out to say, "HERE I AM!!!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb. Italian sausage, sliced (I used a 1 lb. tube of Jimmy Dean sage flavored pork sausage)
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 cans (14 oz.) reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 broth can water
• 1 can (15 oz.) white cannellini beans, rinsed (I used black beans, rinsed)
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) stewed tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup rotini pasta, uncooked (I used whole grain rotini)
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt  (or wait until finished and season to taste)
• 1 and 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
• Saltine crackers

DIRECTIONS:

• Fry sausage and onions in oil in large saucepan until done (10 minutes?), sirring frequently.  When almost done, add the minced garlic.  Drain fat off.
• Add chicken broth, water, beans and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil.
• Stir in rotini pasta and salt; cook 8 minutes or until just tender.  Remove from heat.
• Stir in spinach leaves; cover.  Let stand 5-10 minutes.
• Offer shredded cheese at serving time.  Serve with saltine crackers.