Low-Stress Sausage-Artichoke Soup: A Recipe to Make You Feel Great About Your Cooking Again

I've been there: coping with new parenthood, trying not to murder anyone, lose your mind, or go broke. And somehow you're still responsible for feeding your family. Seriously?! How on earth do they justify NOT sending you home after childbirth with a personal chef?!

Especially these days, when the list of things that may destroy your child's health changes every six weeks. The goalposts never stop moving, and somehow you're supposed to keep up while also keeping a tiny human alive.

And to think, my goal was just to get through a day without phoning a friend to come relieve me before I had a total mental breakdown.

When I was still a working woman, we had a nanny hang with my firstborn a couple of days each week. She introduced us to this recipe. It's a hit with everyone who's tried it, including my somewhat picky husband and my (at the time) not-yet-two-year-old. (This picture is of little one on his third bowl!)

Enough talking — let's get down to it! It takes maybe 20 minutes, and it's 20 minutes of opening a few cans and waiting for meat to brown. Not intricate. It's the kind of recipe that can probably survive your one-year-old needing help with a poop break in the middle of it.

Sausage-Artichoke Soup

1. Brown 1 lb of Italian sausage in a big skillet.

2. While that's browning (or after it's been sitting on the cold stove for an hour because your child is especially high-maintenance today), throw these into a big pot:

   • 42 oz diced tomatoes (3 average cans)

   • 14 oz canned artichoke hearts, juice and all

   • 1 Tbsp oregano

   • 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

   • 1 Tbsp basil

   • 1 tsp red pepper or cayenne (if you like a kick)

3. Dump the cooked sausage into the pot. Heat until it bubbles, then throw in a bunch of spinach and let it wilt (3 minutes or so).

Done! And hey, you can feel good about it — it's gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, and has some actual vegetables in it. I usually double the batch because it goes fast. This one's so simple you can take it to help out your new-mom friends while you're still a new mom yourself.

You're going to feel amazing.

(PS--you can also throw some noodles in there to bulk it up if you prefer.)