Minestrone

I love soup. I have been dying to make soup for SO long, but who wants to eat hot soup in the middle of the scorching summer? So I patiently waited for the right opportunity to come along, and since it has been getting colder recently, as fall quickly approaches, I caved and made myself some soup.

I was originally going to do a post about these really cool chocolate peanut butter whoopie pies, but as I say in my "about" section, I do make mistakes because I am very inexperienced, and I burned the cookies and the filling curdled. So I chucked it out and settled for soup. "Settled" being a terrible term for this soup because it is me and my mom's absolute all time favorite soup!

It's also perfect because it's one of the few recipes that my entire family can enjoy, so I don't have to make 3 different entree's! It is one of those really comforting soups that you just want to curl up with and watch a good movie.

And that is exactly what I did. It's also really great for leftovers, I brought it to school for lunch the next day! So go forth soup lover's of the world, the temperature is dropping and it is time for soup season!

Ingredients:

·       2 teaspoons olive oil 

·       1 cup chopped onion 

·       2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano

·       4 garlic cloves, minced 

·       3 cups chopped yellow squash

·       3 cups chopped zucchini

·       1 cup chopped carrot 

·       1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears) 

·       4 cups chopped tomato, divided 

·       3 (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided 

·       1/2 cup uncooked ditalini pasta (very short tube-shaped macaroni) (I used elbow macaronie/pasta)

·       1 (15.5-ounce) can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

·       1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach

·       3/4 teaspoon salt 

·       1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

·       1 cup (4 ounces) grated Asiago cheese 

·       Coarsely ground black pepper (optional) 

1. 
   
2. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until softened. Add oregano and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Stir in squash, zucchini, carrot, and corn; sauté 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat.
3. Place 3 cups tomato and 1 can broth in a blender; process until smooth. Add tomato mixture to pan; return pan to heat. Stir in remaining 1 cup tomato and remaining 2 cans broth; bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
4. Add pasta and beans to pan; cook 10 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in spinach, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Ladle soup into individual bowls; top with cheese. Garnish with coarsely ground black pepper, if desired.