Minestrone Soup Recipe

Vegetable Minestrone Soup with a hunk of buttered bread

I am watching my calories and am always looking for good meals that are low in calories. I found this really good recipe and only changed a few minor things to accommodate our taste buds. The family just loves this minestrone. I only include Cannellini beans and forget the kidney beans. We don't like those. Hope you enjoy! You can add meat like sausage, bacon, or other fatty full flavored meat if you really need the meat but it's really not necessary. The soup is pretty hearty without meat.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Yellow Onion, diced

2 Large Carrots, peeled and chopped

2 Large stalks Celery, peeled and chopped

3 Garlic Cloves, minced

1 Pound Fresh Spinach

1 Large Potato, peeled and cubed

1 Fresh Rosemary Sprig

1 14 Ounce Can Diced Tomatoes in their juice

1 Can Cannellini beans (white Kidney beans), drained and rinsed

4 Cups Chicken Broth

1 Ounce piece of Parmesan Cheese Rind (Just get the wedge of Parmesan cheese next time and instead of dumping the rind keep it for your soup. It will keep in the freezer until you are ready to use)

1/4 Cup Dried Macaroni Pasta

Look how happy the soup is in that pot. Look closely and you can see the cheese rind just perking away giving it's nice salty flavor to the soup!

Directions:

Heat Olive Oil in a large pot. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Saute until onion is translucent, add garlic and stir. Add spinach and potato to the mixture. Saute until the spinach wilts. Add Chicken Broth, rosemary sprig, and tomato's to the mixture and stir. Add Parmesan Rind and pasta to soup and let simmer until potato's and pasta are cooked. Add beans and cook until soup thickens. Remove Parmesan Rind and Rosemary stem and serve.

We eat with crunchy sourdough bread and butter with a nice green salad.

Serves 6, 221 Calories Per serving using myfitnesspal.com

Until Next Time, SoCal Marisa