Hearty Minestrone Soup

A good Minestrone Soup is almost like the perfect meal, isn’t it?

Something about all those greens, beans, and veggies swimming together in an Italian tomato broth…mmm perfect.  I think this was one of my very first soups I made when I became a Brand New Vegan, and it’s still one of my favorites.

According to Wikipedia, Minestrone is now known in Italy as belonging to the style of cooking called “cucina povera”  – which literally translates as  “poor kitchen”.

If this is what the poor peasants ate, I say let those rich nobles enjoy their artery clogging meats and cheeses, because to me,  this looks delicious, not to mention healthy!

Hearty Minestrone Soup

The nice thing about Minestrone is the variety of veggies you can use.  Of course as with any homemade soup, the French mirepoix of carrots, onion, and celery form the base, but to that – you can literally add anything.

Photo by Theresa Carpenter

I added mushrooms, savoy cabbage, spinach, garlic, tomatoes, 3 different kinds of beans, veggie stock, and of course – Italian Seasonings.

This soup literally screams nutrition!

You can add a pasta or starch, but I left it out as I intend to serve this with a baked potato or rice

To make this soup simply sauté the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery until softened.  Then add the mushrooms and cabbage until they have released their liquid and wilted.

Finally add the tomatoes, stock, water, beans, and seasonings and bring to a boil.  Once it comes to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 1 hr to let the flavors blend.

Right before serving, add a few handfuls of freshly chopped spinach and stir it in.

And of course the perfect accompaniment would be some hot, flaky, vegan buttermilk biscuits!

And yes, you can find My Flaky Vegan Biscuit recipe right here.  

Buon appetito!

Print Hearty Minestrone Soup

Prep time:  30 mins

Cook time:  1 hour

Total time:  1 hour 30 mins

Serves: Big Pot

A hearty Italian Minestrone Soup full of vegetables, 3 different kinds of beans, and fresh greens that just screams nutritious. Buon appetito! Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4oz mushrooms
• 1 cup savoy cabbage, chopped
• 15oz can stewed tomatoes
• 15oz can diced tomatoes, no salt added
• 2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 cup water
• 15oz can kidney beans (low sodium)
• 15 oz can white beans (low sodium)
• 1 cup frozen green beans
• 2 Tbls red wine vinegar
• 1½ tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• ½ tsp thyme
• ½ tsp pepper
• salt to taste
• several handfuls fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Chop all vegetables to uniform size
2. Over medium low heat, add enough veggie broth to cover pan bottom
3. Saute onion, carrot, celery until softened
4. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute
5. Add mushrooms and cabbage and cook until softened
6. Add tomatoes and stir
7. Add broth and water and stir
8. Add beans and stir
9. Add seasonings and stir
10. Cover and bring to boil.
11. Just as it comes to a boil, turn heat to low and simmer 1 hr
12. Add spinach right before serving

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