Southern Italian Wedding Soup

I first saw this recipe for Southernized Italian Wedding Soup on Deep South Dish. I loved the idea of using up some frozen collard greens and black eyed peas I had leftover from new years so I gave it a shot. It was delicious and SO filling. I think this recipe could really help stretch a buck if you are feeding a large family. I did tweak the recipe a little so if you want to see the original please click on one of the links above. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1cup (measured before you cook it) of pearl barley (cooked according to package instructions. I added a beef bullion cube to the water to give the barley and nice flavor)
• 1 pound of Italian sausage (whatever spice level you enjoy)
• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can of stewed tomatoes
• 2 quarts of chicken broth or stock (can add more or less depending on if you want more of a soup or stew)
• 1/2 tablespoon of dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 bag frozen collards, turnip, or mixed greens
• 1 can black-eyed peas
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions

In a Dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot cook sausage, breaking meat up into larger sized chunks. Add the onion and garlic to the meat and cook until the onions are tender and the sausage is cooked completely through. Add stewed tomatoes with the juices; stir in the chicken broth, parsley, Italian seasoning and Cajun seasoning and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the cooked barley, collards and black-eyed peas and heat through. Taste and season with salt and pepper.