Lasagna Soup

So my mom introduced me to this recipe by saying, "Your dad thought it was so good when I made this, I thought he was going to eat the bowl!!". I think when soup has male-approval as a meal, this really means it must be good! So I tried it out this past weekend and it certainly lived up to it's reputation. It was also Tom-approved as a meal since it's so hearty...normally soup would not be enough to satisfy his appetite. Although filling, putting a few twists on it I was able to make it healthy and pretty low-fat. Here's the recipe I followed:

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage (*I used turkey sausage to make it more heart-healthy and lower fat)
1 chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 T. tomato paste
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
6 c. chicken broth
6-8 broken apart lasagna noodles
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves

1 c. chopped spinach

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
8 oz. ricotta (*I used part-skim version)
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese (*I used the reduced-fat version)
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (*I used the reduced-fat version)

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onion and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, chicken broth, basil and spinach. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes. While soup is simmering, boil lasagna noodels in a separate pot until al dente. 

Also while the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

To serve, place some broken apart noodles in the bottom of a bowl, pour soup over them and add a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, finishing with a sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top. 

*When I made this recipe, since there are only 2 in our household, I stored the noodles, the soup, and the cheese mixture in three separate containers. Then when I heat it up, I can heat the noodles and soup together without the noodles getting mushy and still add the dollop of cheese after heating.