Italian Chicken Soup!

Hi everyone! Today I'm joining Foodie Friday and Friday's Favorites! Ever make something that just screams "healthy", well this is it! Once you get past the sausage that is... Barley, lentils, chick peas, spinach and garlic. We had a full day of snow and I felt like making something that would be comforting and warm.

When I found this recipe on allrecipes it was written for a pressure cooker. I love my PC, but wanted something that would simmer for a while on the stove so that's how I cooked it.

Hope you love it if you try it:@)

Italian Chicken Soup

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• 1 cup green lentils
• 1 bone-in chicken breast half, skin removed
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• 1 (16 ounce) bag fresh spinach leaves, chopped
• 1 cup mild salsa

Directions

1. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a pressure cooker over medium heat. Add sausage meat, and cook until browned, breaking it into crumbles. Remove sausage to a plate and drain oil. Add another 1 teaspoon of olive oil to pressure cooker; cook onion and garlic until onion is transparent. Add barley and stir 1 minute. Return sausage to pressure cooker. Add lentils, chicken, parsley, and chicken stock to cooker, adding enough stock to completely cover chicken. Close cover securely; place pressure regulator on vent pipe. Bring pressure cooker to full pressure over high heat (this may take 15 minutes). Reduce heat to medium high; cook for 9 minutes. Pressure regulator should maintain a slow steady rocking motion; adjust heat if necessary.
2. Remove pressure cooker from heat; use quick-release following manufacturer's instructions or allow pressure to drop on its own. Open cooker and remove chicken; shred meat and return to soup. Add garbanzo beans, spinach and salsa; stir to blend and heat through before serving.

My Notes:

1. I would use the pressure cooker next time. In the earlier stages of cooking this, you could really taste the fennel seed from the sausage. That was very nice, it mellowed the longer the soup cooked.
2. I used Italian Sweet Sausage, not turkey.
3. I would cut back on the lentils. Maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup.
4. They call this a soup, it's a stew. I kept adding more stock, it just kept getting thicker!
5. The salsa gets lost in the soup. I would add a nice heaping tablespoon to each bowl instead.
6. I did grate some Parmesan/Reggiano on top, very nice!
7. This does freeze well.
8. I will make this again and do highly recommend it. Might be nice with a few more veggies in it too.