Pizza Soup

Yep, you read that right Pizza Soup. This has quickly become my favorite cozy meal to make during the winter-ish months. I have always been intimidated by making soups just because of the number of ingredients and for some reason soup just seems complicated. Turns out, the joke is on me because soup is insanely easy to make. From a "tools" standpoint, you really just need a good knife, cutting board and a dutch oven pot.

The pot I use was actually inherited from an old roommate, I love it and its super affordable. I highly recommend getting a 5quart pot you can get a nice Cuisinart one to start off with from Amazon, or you can really level up and get a nice Le Creuset pot. I have a Cuisinart one and it literally does the exact thing. If you aren't sure how often you'll use it, Id recommend a $50 Cuisinart one instead of a $350 Le Cruset one.

So what ingredients do you need to make this magical pizza soup? Well, the beauty about cooking is you can make adjustments as you go along. Every time I make this recipe I try something new!

1 pound of ground beef (or meat of your choice)

3.5 oz of sliced pepperoni (i end up cutting the slices into quarters)

8oz fresh chopped mushrooms (I get pre-sliced mushrooms so its less chopping)

1 diced red pepper

1 diced green pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tsp crushed red pepper

2 28oz cans diced tomatoes undrained (I only use one can)

2 14.5oz cans/cartons of chicken broth

½ cup pitted diced black olives (I pass on these)

2 tbsp dried Italian seasoning

Cheese as a topping

½ pound of pasta (a lot of times for a hardier soup I add ½ a pound of fusilli pasta)

Now the real work begins. The actual recipe says it's about 40 mins of prep and 20 mins of cooking. I sort of blend everything together like the crazy person I am. Here are the step by step instructions:

1. In a skillet (I recommend a 10" one) over medium heat, cook the ground beef until browned. Drain and add in the pepperoni so it can get nice and toasty. Drain and dry off

2. While the meat is browning... chop the mushrooms, onions and peppers. Add them into the dutch oven pot along with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Keep it over medium heat. (ALSO, while the meat is browning cook the pasta if you are looking to include that)

3. Once the veggies are nice and tender. Stir in the remaining olive oil & the garlic.

4. Add meat to the dutch oven pot

5. Add tomatoes, broth, olives, pasta and all other fixins you may want.

6. Sit and let it simmer covered, stir occasionally.

When you serve, I add a touch of mixed cheese ontop.

Honestly, I dare you to tell me anything tastes better in soup form.