Italian Vegetable Soup

 

It has snowed twice in the last two days here...time to break out the soups!  A neighbor brought a version of this soup to us after we had our little guy last year and it was so good.  I don't know why it to me so long to make it.  I altered it to fit our tastes and it turned out delicious.
My husband went back for seconds and then thirds and then was eating straight out of the pan while I started doing dishes...even my little almost 1 year old loved it!

This recipe makes 8-10 servings.

16 oz. tomato sauce (2, 8 oz. cans)
1 lb. ground mild, Italian sausage (or you can use ground beef or ground turkey)
1 C celery, finely chopped
1/2 C carrots, finely chopped
1 C zucchini, finely chopped (I keep shredded zucchini in my freezer so I just used 1 C of that, chopped up so it wasn't so stringy)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (14.5 oz.) stewed tomatoes, undrained (chop the tomatoes into smaller pieces)
2 cans (14.5 oz each) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 C shredded cabbage (you can just used the bagged kind, sometimes it is called coleslaw)
4-5 C water
4 tsp beef bullion
1 tsp onion powder
1 TBSP parsley flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp pepper
1 C elbow macaroni noodles
Parmesan cheese

In a large pot, add the tomato sauce, celery, carrots, garlic, stewed tomatoes, kidney beans, cabbage, beef bullion, parsley, salt, oregano, basil, pepper, and two cups of water.
Simmer on medium heat for about 30 minutes.
Brown the Italian sausage.
Lower the heat to medium low.
Add 2 more cups of water and let it simmer for another 30 minutes.
Add the Italian sausage, zucchini, and noodles and bring to a boil.
Cook for another 8-10 minutes until the noodles are cooked.
Serve garnished with Parmesan cheese.