Recipe For Karen

My friend walked in the other day just as I was finishing up dinner. Daniel and I pretty much triple-up on the amount of garlic we put in anything, so dinner time is always very aromatic! Anyway, here is the recipe for you, my friend! It worked well with our fresh baguettes, though we should have started those in the morning because they take a lot of kneading and resting. I had to use chicken broth since I didn't have any beef broth, and I left out the parsley because I didn't have any... Also, if you need some fresh basil, come on over!

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound sweet Italian sausage,
casings removed
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups beef broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red wine
4 large tomatoes - peeled,
seeded and chopped
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 tablespoon packed fresh
basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
8 ounces fresh tortellini pasta
3 tablespoons chopped fresh
parsley
DIRECTIONS:
1.In a 5 quart Dutch oven, brown sausage. Remove sausage and drain, reserving 1 tablespoon of the drippings.

2.Saute onions and garlic in drippings. Stir in beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

3.Skim fat from the soup. Stir in zucchini and parsley. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add tortellini during the last 10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top of each serving.