Souped up Minestrone

Happy 2012! 


"Look how much weight I have to lose" is one of the most popular New Year's resolutions. This being a food blog, we wanted to give a recipe that encompasses the idea of being a healthy dish with low amounts of calories and fat. With those ideas in mind, you get what we call, "Souped Up  Minestrone".  Trisha and I are not firm believers in New Years resolutions, mainly because we've made resolutions in the past to the same result of many other Americans; we broke them by Valentine's day. In essence, our resolution is to not make resolutions or do things we don't truly believe in. Something that we very much believe in is actions speaking louder than words. Therefore, we are giving you our word that our goal for this blog, among many, is to post a new recipe at least twice a week. We obviously don't know if we will be able to, however, by giving you our word we are certainly going to try. Doing this blog is something we both really enjoy and we have received some great feedback in response to the recipes we have put on here. I don't know if people like the way I write, the stories I tell, or the way in which I present Trisha's recipes but, your stuck with me writing it, so if you want Trisha's glorious recipes your going to have to put up with me:) Although, I guess I'll give  you some major insight if your not a fan of how I write. Just scroll to the recipes and skip my writings, although I want you to know you will have just hurt my feelings; even though I won't be there to see you skip over my supurb and ever-engaging writing, just know I'm crushed. Obviously I'm kidding. In all sincerity we thank you for stopping by, thank you for the support in the past and into the future and we just hope you enjoy the blog in the year 2012 as we are looking forward to growing this thing into something special that more and more people really enjoy. 


I've never eaten a Minestrone soup because it looked terrible to me and as I'm learning with my food photography experience, food has to look good in order for people to want to eat it. A Minestrone soup has big chunks of tomatoes, white beans, kidney beans, spinach and celery and did not look enticing to me. Trisha on the other hand loves Minestrone Soup, particularly from Olive Garden. When she was thinking of a healthier meal to cook that's easy and delicious, she thought of that soup. So, if you want Olive Garden Minestrone Soup in 2012, all you have to do is go on the internet, type it in Google and there ya have it, the recipe for a great soup. But, your not reading this because you wanted Olive Garden Minestrone. Your reading this because you want better than Olive Garden, and Trisha once again delivers, I promise you. Since I've wrote quite a bit already I'll just get to the recipe and how she cooked it. Again, with most our posts, its easy, relatively fast (takes about 40 min to prepare but its a check back once and awhile 40 minutes), and the flavors will knock you out! 


Ingredients:
-2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
-1/2 Cup minced White Onions (1 small onion)
-1/4 Cup Frozen Cut Green Beans
-1/4 Celery (2 Stalks) 
-3 Cloves Minced Garlic
-4 Cups Chicken Broth (Original Recipe says Vegetable Broth. We were told not to use Chicken. We defy convention!)
-2 Can's small white or Great Northern Beans, drained (Original recipe call for 1 can of Kidney, 1 white but I hate Kidney)
-1 Can Diced Tomatoes, not drained
-1/2 Cup Carrots, Shredded
-2 Tablespoons minced fresh Parsley
-1 Teaspoon dried Oregano
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon black pepper
-1/2 teaspoon dried basil
-1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
-1 Cup Hot Water
-1/3 Cup Frozen Spinach
-1/2 Small Shell Pasta
-1/2 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
-1 teaspoon Garlic Powder


Cooking Instructions:


1. Heat 2 TBSP Olive Oil over medium heat in large soup pot.


2. Saute onion, celery, garlic, green beans in the oil for about 5 minutes or until onions begin to turn translucent.


3. Add Chicken broth to pot, plus tomatoes, beans, carrots, hot water, and all spices. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. 


4. Add Spinach leaves and pasta and cook for additional 20 minutes or until desired consistency. Your Done!
We like to add shredded parmesan cheese to the top!


Please, let us know what you think, if you tried your own thing you could always post your own pics showing your own interpretation. Thanks, let's have a delicious 2012 and Enjoy!