Hearty Italian Soup

There's nothing like a cool, damp day in February, as well as book club coming over, to convince me to get out my tried-and-true Hearty Italian Soup recipe.  About 25 years ago I bought a little cookbook from the check-out line at the grocery store in Madison, and I am still making this soup recipe for family and friends.  You can see from this scan that this print version has been well-loved.  I used Chicken Italian Sausage from Sprouts last night.

Several friends requested this recipe, so here it is.  Click on the photo for a larger version.