Minestrone Soup

I don't think I've ever made minestrone soup at home before.  I had just a few leftover green beans.. not enough to make a batch of roasted green beans with oil, salt & pepper (amazing might I add).  So I found this recipe and man it was good.  Easy, too.  I did not add celery and I chopped up the carrots into itty bitty pieces so that my almost preschooler couldn't detect them with his Carrot Radar.  I also used my homemade chicken stock.  Since this is a low fat recipe I had to mess with it... so I added a dollup of pesto sauce right on top of the soup.  Dynomite!

Ellie Krieger minestrone soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1/3 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 28-ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
• 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 15-ounce can low-sodium kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• cup elbow pasta
• 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the celery and carrot and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the green beans, dried oregano and basil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste; cook 3 more minutes.

Add the diced and crushed tomatoes and the chicken broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in the kidney beans and pasta and cook until the pasta and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt. Ladle into bowls and top with the parmesan and chopped basil.

Per serving (2 cups): Calories 260; Fat 8 g (Saturated 2 g); Cholesterol 5 mg; Sodium 560 mg; Carbohydrate 37 g; Fiber 10 g; Protein 15 g