Spicy Sicilian Soup

extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced green pepper
2 carrots (diced)
2 potatoes (thinly sliced)
2 tsp garlic (diced, crushed, or however you like it!)
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp cayenne
salt and pepper

1 can petite diced tomotoes
1/4 lb ground Italian sausage, cooked (I used mild)
1-2 chicken breast (1 big, or 2 small), uncooked
32 oz chicken broth
1 tsp Italian dressing mix (or Zesty Italian seasoning)
1 tsp Spicy Spaghetti seasoning
salt and pepper

1/3 cup ditalini (or any other very small pasta)
1 can cannelini beans (or nothern white beans)
3 oz fresh spinach

Heat oil in a large soup pot and add first set of ingredients.  Saute over medium-low heat until tender (10 min or so)

Add second set of ingredients and cook 1-2 hours over low heat.  Pull out the cooked chicken and shred it, then add it back to the pot along with the beans, pasta, and spinach.  Cook 10 minutes more, or until pasta is aldente. 

Serve with crusty bread (I LOVE the kind a Publix with garlic cloves baked in....de-lish!) Yum, just writing this recipe made me hungry!  Sorry I don't have any step-by-steps, but I made up this recipe while waiting on tornados, so I was a little distracted...ha!  I let it cook while we hung out in the basement, just hoping the winds wouldn't blow our dinner away. (We didn't actually end up havin any tornados, which is why I was able to capture this lovely picture of the finished product.)