Minestrone Soup

Minestrone Soup

Cook for five minutes:
2 Tb. olive oil or other oil
2 cups chopped onions (1 large onion)
5 medium garlic cloves, minced
1½ or 2 tsp. salt

Add and cook for 10 minutes, stir occasionally:
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 medium carrots sliced or diced
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
Black pepper to taste

Add, cover and simmer for 15 minutes:
1 medium bell pepper, sliced or diced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 cup diced eggplant, optional
5-6 cups water
1 (14 oz.) can tomato sauce

Add and simmer five minutes more:
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
Add and cook until tender:
1 cup pasta (uncooked, shells, bows, or macaroni)

Add:
1 or 2 diced tomatoes (or 1 can chopped tomatoes)

Sprinkle chopped parsley and Parmesan cheese on each bowl or soup before serving. It is definitely a winner! From Beverly Wessman. The recipe also works if you add all the vegetables, beans, and tomatoes together; add the pasta last.

Becky's Note: Isn't Minestrone the prettiest soup?  I usually cook soup every Thursday during the winter and it is my favorite day of the week to cook.  I love the smells, the warmth, cutting up vegetables, etc.  Minestrone can easily be a dump it soup- dump canned veggies into a pot and warm.  However, I would feel safe saying that if you actually make a minestrone soup like this, you will never go back.

I tried this soup in bread bowls and quickly discovered that cream based soups hold up better in the bread.  So we ate the soup out of bowls and dipped the bread!  It was tasty either way.

Can you spot all the ingredients?  Eggplant is in the upper center of the picture.

Here is another view of the soup with Beverly's suggestion of parsley and Parmesan cheese. (From Eliza)