This is a nice contrast to the usual cream of tomato soup. We add Italian sausage and herbs to achieve the Italian flavor of the soup. If you are fortunate enough to have fresh herbs available to you, use these, by all means. If you have a favorite Italian link sausage, you can use that. The flavor of the sausage will affect the taste of the soup, so I recommend experimenting with different brands, since the combination of herbs and spices varies greatly from brand to brand.

If you can your own vegetables, use your stewed tomatoes for the soup. Eliminate celery, if celery is in your stewed tomatoes. 1/4 c. sliced celery 1 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced 1 lg. onion (1/2" cut) 1 lb. Italian sausage (1/4" sliced) don't use the cheap stuff 1 green pepper Salt & pepper to taste (use fresh cracked pepper, if possible) 1 tbsp. basil 1/2 tsp. thyme 2 bay leaves 1 tsp. fennel 1/2 tsp. marjoram 1/2 tsp. tarragon 2 cans water or beef stock (use cans from tomatoes) A little garlic

Pour juice off whole tomatoes into pan. De-seed tomatoes, by running water on them. If you would like to use fresh tomatoes, you should peel them, i.e. boiling water into ice water. Put tomatoes into soup pot, add water, onions, mushrooms, celery and Italian sausage. Cooked sausage is less greasy, but raw can be used. While soup is cooking, skim off excess fat and any foam that comes to the surface of the soup. Cook 50 minutes. Add remaining ingredients (herbs, green peppers, soup base, if you don't have beef stock) and salt and pepper to taste. Cook 10 minutes and serve.