Pizza Soup

This is one of my favorite new recipes I've tried for dinner lately. We've even had it twice in the last month and that says a lot. This recipe is such a simple idea. I don't know why I didn't think of it. But it is really really yummy and my kids eat it because of its name and because it really tastes just like pizza. The original recipe is a crockpot recipe but once I made it just on a pot on the stove just an hour or so before dinner and it was just the same. But making it in the crockpot makes it easy to have ready for dinner. So either way is good. The original recipe calls for a can of pizza sauce. I don't ever buy pizza sauce because it's so easy to make yourself with tomato sauce (which I always have) and some spices. So I changed the recipe a bit in that way. Also, add to this soup what you like to put on your pizza. Although I'm not so sure I would add pineapple. But if you don't like olives, don't add them. Around here a pizza isn't a pizza without olives. Olives make my kids eat something. So do it how you like it. But make this soup. You will love it.

Pizza Soup

from a year of slowcooking

2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce

6 empty cans full of water

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 can sliced mushrooms

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 already-cooked Italian sausage

1 cup sliced pepperoni, sliced in quarters

1/2 T dried basil

1 T dried oregano

1/2 to 1/3 cup of dried pasta (optional)

salt to taste

shredded mozzarella cheese (to add later)

Use a 5 or 6 quart crockpot for this recipe. Serves 4 hungry adults, or 2 hungry adults and 2 kids with enough leftovers to feed them all again.

Wash and prepare veggies. Dump them into the crockpot. Add the crumbled italian sausage. Cut up the pepperoni, add it, too. Add garlic, basil and oregano. Pour in the tomato sauce and follow with six empty cans of water.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours. Everything in this is already cooked, so you are really only heating through and allowing the flavors to meld.

Thirty minutes before serving, add the dry pasta, and turn to high. Watch the pasta as it may take less time to cook. Season to taste with salt.

Garnish/top with shredded mozzarella cheese.