A Weekend Recipe to Satisfy All Tastebuds: Minestrone

Happy Friday! The weekend is here!

If you missed yesterdays post, be sure to check it out and join in on the giveaway that ends tonight at midnight!

I am headed down to south Georgia this afternoon with my parents for a wedding but first I wanted to share one of my favorite fall/winter recipes that a few of you asked about over on Instagram.

With a fall chill in the air, this soup is sure to warm up any guests you might have this weekend. A perfect soup to keep hot on the stove all day long, welcome fall with this easy, oh so healthy Minestrone soup.

This was one of the first recipes that I cooked as a newly wed, and it still remains one of my go to one-pot dinners. In fact, even my meat eating husband even requests it quite often!

Classic Minestrone

Recipe adapted from here.

Prep time ~15 minutes; Cook time

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive or organic canola oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 zucchini, diced
• 1/3 lb (1.5 cups) green beans, trimmed into 1-2 inch pieces
• 1 cup chopped spinach
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1, 28 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes
• 1, 14 oz can no salt added crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 6 cups unsalted vegetable stock
• 2 cups kidney beans (I used dried and soaked beans but canned would work too, just buy no salt added)
• 1 cup garbanzo beans (I used dried and soaked beans but canned would work too, just buy no salt added)
• 2 cups whole-grain (gluten free if necessary – I used rice pasta spirals but elbow or any variety would work too)
• salt and pepper to taste
• parmasean cheese or nutritional yeast for topping (optional)

Directions

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, ~4 minutes.
3. Add the celery, carrot, bell pepper and garlic, cook until tender, ~5 more minutes.
4. Add the zucchini, green beans, spinach and herbs, cook for ~3 more minutes.
5. Add both cans of tomatoes, red wine and vegetable stock and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for ~10 minutes.
7. Stir in both beans and continue to cook until the  vegetables are tender, ~5 more minutes.
8. Stir in the pasta, season with salt and pepper and ladle into individual bowls.
9. Top with parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast and enjoy.

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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure to check back tomorrow (yep! Saturday!) for my second post as a member of The Recipe Redux. Not giving anything away, but you don’t want to miss this sweet Saturday treat!

Good health!

Tagged as: dinner, fall, minestrone, one pot dinners, recipes, soup, weekend recipes