Sausage Tortellini Soup

I have been a fan of the mom blog Confessions of a Homeschooler, for a while now and have used quite a bit of her resources for homeschooling preschoolers, but I recently saw on her blog that she has shared some recipes.  All thanks goes to her for this fabulous soup recipe that we tried last night.  I had never bought Italian sausage before and had to have someone at the grocery store help me find it since it wasn't with the rest of the sausage.  FYI, it was found over in the meat section beside the ground beef in my Kroger.  They were out of sweet Italian sausage links, so I got mild Italian sausage links, but I plan to try the sweet kind next time I make this.

Ingredients:
6 links sweet Italian sausage (I also added 1/2 lb ground sage sausage)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cans beef broth, 2 cans water
16 oz diced tomatoes (I used 14.5 oz)
2 cups sliced zuchini (I used 2 zuchini)
6 oz can sliced black olives (I used chopped to hide them from my kids)
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 package cheese tortellini
1 can kidney beans
1 cup carrots diced (I didn't use these)
Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1.  In saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and brown sausage links.
2.  Add garlic and onion.
3.  When onion is tender and sausage is cooked, slice sausage links.
4.  In large pot, bring beef broth, water, sausage, garlic, onion, Italian seasoning, tomatoes, zuchini, kidney beans, and carrots to boil.
5.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10-20 minutes.
6.  Add tortellini and olives and cook until tortellini is tender.
7.  Serve with Parmesan cheese.

*Our favorite bread to eat with soup is this homemade recipe.