Pizza Soup

This is easy and tastes wonderful on a chilly day. You will need about an hour for the soup to cook. If you want to make a smaller batch, use 1/2 lb. of the meats, and use 1 large can crushed tomatoes, one can diced tomatoes and one can tomato sauce. Or if you are cooking for two, make the big batch and freeze what you won't eat, except don't add the cheese to the batch that is going into the freezer.

Serve with a tossed green salad and garlic bread.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 lb Italian sausage
one large onion, chopped
Mozzarella cheese or Monterey Jack cheese
Parmesan cheese
sliced black olives
mushrooms
green bell pepper, chopped
two large cans crushed tomatoes
one large can diced tomatoes
one large can tomatoe sauce
two large cloves garlic, minced
about 2 t. basil
1 t. pepper
about 1 T Italian seasoning

What to do:

Brown the hamburger and sausage in a large pot, adding onion and green pepper about hallway through the process. Drain. Add the tomatoes and the spices. My amts. are approximate, so adjust to suit your taste as necessary. The green pepper, olives and mushrooms are optional, but do use them if you like them. Amounts are up to you. Fresh mushrooms are best, but canned will do. Add water if you need more liquid or if it seems more like sauce than soup.

Bring to a gentle boil, and then turn heat to low for about an hour. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle grated Kraft-type Parmesan cheese on top. Add a generous amt. of grated mozzarella or jack cheese on top and heat in microwave or oven till cheese is nicely melted.

I've never tried this in a crock pot, but I assume you could brown the meat and onion and then add all the other ingredients and cook on low while you are at work. If you try it, let me know in comments how it worked out.