Minestrone Soup

It's getting cool again on Beaty's Creek and I want me some soup. Nothing is better than a pot of soup on a cold day. Bake some bread and you are good to go. I am making a hard crusty bread to dip in olive oil tonight.

Needed:
1 pound Italian sausage-cut into chunks
1 large purple onion-chopped
4 large carrots-peeled and chopped
4 celery stalks-stripped and chopped
5 garlic cloves-minced
2 zucchini-sliced into 1/2 inch slices and then quartered
1/2 pound green beans-these can be fresh or frozen(I could not find fresh so I used frozen.)
3 quarts beef or chicken broth(Add this as you go, we like it soupy, so we add more.)
1 quart whole tomatoes-smashed(I used home canned)
3 T Italian seasoning(I use fresh in the summer but this time of year I use dry.)
1 T pepper
salt to taste
3 cups cabbage-shredded into 1/2 inch shreds
1 can cannelloni beans-drained
1 can garbanzo beans-drained
1 cup small shaped pasta(I always use different shapes to jazz it up.)
Fresh Parmesan cheese- shredded finely

Brown sausage with onions and garlic until the sausage is no longer pink. This is the time to add your broth, so you can get all the goodies off the bottom of your soup pot, now add the green beans, zucchini, carrots, celery, and both beans. Simmer for 20 minutes and add cabbage, tomatoes, pasta, and all of your seasoning. Cook for 30 minutes, you may need to add a little water if soup gets too thick after adding your pasta. We grate Parmesan cheese over soup in each bowl. This makes a lot of soup but it reheats very well. In fact I usually freeze some for lunch. Give it a try, I know you will like it! Well that is "what's cookin" tonight.