MINESTRONE SOUP

This is again a healthy one-pot meal, loaded with healthy vegetables, rich in fiber, any variety of dry beans and a wheat pasta. Whip up this soup  in a jiffy with whatever veggies you have in your refrigerator. This soup gives immense content and fills your stomach, still you do not have any heaviness.
The word "Minestrone" is Italian,  meaning "thick soup".

Ingredients

Olive oil - 2 tsps

Garlic - 4 pods

Onion - 1, chopped

Tomatoes - 3, chopped

Carrot - 1, small diced

Fresh beans - 1/2 cup, cut lengthwise

Yellow squash - 1, small, diced

Yellow pumpkin - 1/2 cup, diced

Spinach leaves - 2 cups

Wheat penne pasta - 1/2 cup

Black eyed chick peas - 3/4 cup 

Tomato puree - 3 tbsps

Hot and sweet chilli-tomato sauce - 1 tbsp

Chilli flakes - 1 tsp

Mixed Italian seasonings - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Low fat cheese slices - 2, torn into small pieces

Recipe Cuisine: Italian; Category: Lunch/ Dinner

Prep time: 10 mts; Cooking time: 20 mts

Yields 4 -5 big bowls of soup

Heat a pan, with 2 tsps olive oil, and add the garlic pods and onions, just give one quick saute, then add tomatoes and the diced carrots

Now add the fresh beans, yellow squash and yellow pumpkins...isn't this a visual treat??? So colorful...so healthy...

Add the chopped spinach, and also the black eyed chick peas, cooked for 2-3 whistles

Now, add the chilli flakes, mixed Italian seasonings and now, the tomato puree (store bought). This puree is added to give some body and nice texture to soup

Hot water poured till the vegetables are immersed, penne pasta added, and the pot closed with a lid, to enable all the veggies and pasta to  get cooked

After the vegetables are half cooked, add salt to taste, then add the sweet and hot chilli-tomato sauce, pour some more water, if needed, and finally check whether everything is uniformly cooked.

You can serve the hot soup without cheese too, with some bread toasts

I had some low fat cheese slices at home, just tore them into small pieces and topped the soup. You can add grated cheese too.

This post first appeared in www.malpatskitchen.com

Notes

*Though this soup is a signature dish of Olive Garden, USA, of late,  I come to notice, , they are very scrimpy and close-fisted  with vegetables. Lot of  broth and less veggies.......... and too much of cheese.....

*This home-made Minestrone is a wonderful one-pot meal, really I am telling you, have 2 bowls of soup and your lunch or dinner  is done!! What a healthy meal!!!

*If you are a cheese lover, nothing stops you from adding a layer of grated cheese.

*And just one vessel to be washed!! Isn't that really wonderful???

*This can be called a "No Crouton Soup".........since, there are loads of veggies, beans and pasta, and there is no need for croutons at all!!!

This is my entry to Lisa's No Crouton soup

Categories: Healthy Cooking, International cuisine, Soups- Sandwiches-Salads