Minestrone

Having a vegetarian in my family sometimes complicates how and what we eat for dinner. You don't realize how many recipes have meat in them until you cut it out of your diet. This minestrone was the perfect solution to our dinner woes. It was filling, very tasty, and heated up great the next day. After searching for what seemed like hours, I stumbled upon this recipe from allrecipes.com. I slightly modified it and was very pleased with the outcome. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 8 

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic
2 onions
2 cups celery
4 carrots
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup red wine (optional)
1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans
1 (15 oz) can green beans
2 cups baby spinach
3 zucchinis
1 Tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup ditali pasta
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese

Chop the garlic, onions, celery, carrots, spinach, and zucchinis and set them aside. 

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium low heat. Add onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add celery and carrots, saute 3-5 more minutes. 

Add vegetable broth and tomato sauce and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Stir in the red wine. Reduce heat to low and add cannellini beans, green beans, spinach, zucchini, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. The longer the better. 

In a small saucepan, cook 1/2 cup of ditali pasta until tender. Drain and set aside.

Once soup is heated and pasta is cooked, place two tablespoons of pasta into individual serving bowls. Ladle soup on top of pasta. 

Garnish with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

This will definitely be a soup I will be adding to my personal recipe book.

'Till next time,
Caroline