Italian Sausage Soup

Italian Sausage Soup

I made up this recipe last night after reading a few similar recipes on allrecipes.com. This is becoming my favorite recipe site as I like how they let folks add their modifications. John had a craving for a soup and we had defrosted some sausage and so I came up with this. The recipe is a bit free form as it seems to be one that can vary quite a bit and still be good.

1 lb Italian sausage (I removed from casing)
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup bell pepper, chopped (I used some frozen red, yellow and green bell peppers)
5-6 cups broth (beef or chicken)
½ to 1 cup red wine
Tomatoes: 2-3 cans stewed tomatoes or 4 fresh tomatoes peeled and deseeded (I used 1 qt home canned, and 1 can stewed) some recipes recommend adding 8 oz tomato sauce
1-2 cups zucchini (recipes suggest chunked but I used the grated zucchini and yellow crookneck I had in the freezer)
1 cup sliced carrots
Mushrooms, chopped
1-2 potatoes, cubed small enough to cook in time available
1 can beans (I didn’t use, but recipes suggest great northern or pintos)
½ teaspoon dried basil or ½ tablespoon fresh basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
Dried pasta (I used 2/3 cup small pasta, recipes suggest ½ cup to 8 oz tortellini)
Vegetables-recipes suggest chopped spinach or green beans. I put in about ½ cup frozen pumpkin to add some sweetness since I didn’t use many stewed tomatoes which have quite a bit of sugar added. I mashed up the cubes and no one even knew it was in there!

Brown the sausage and onions, garlic and bell peppers. Add rest of the ingredients, except pasta and delicate veggies like spinach. Simmer at least ½ hr. Shortly (at least 15 minutes) before serving add the pasta and heat soup to boiling and cook pasta. Just before serving at the spinach, warm and serve. Some recipes suggest serving with parmesan cheese.