Minestrone v 1.0

Some of these ingredients may seem odd for me to use. I had some stuff lying around my pantry and freezer that I wanted to use up. So I guess the other name for this could be "Kitchen Sink Minestrone".

Minestrone v 1.0

1/4 lb ground beef

1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf, crushed
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

8 pints water

1 ten ounce package frozen chopped spinach
2 fourteen ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 fifteen ounce can kidney beans
1 zucchini, sliced
8 ounces frozen pea and carrot mixture
2 cubes veggie bouillon

2 cups pasta

1) Sauté ground beef in the bottom of stock pot

2) Add basil, oregano, bay leaf, celery, onion and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes on medium heat or until meat is thoroughly cooked.

3) Add water. Raise heat to high.

4) Add spinach, tomatoes, beans, zucchini, bouillon and peas and carrots. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium. Boil for 1 hour 40 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add water if necessary.

5) If you are serving immediately add pasta and cook for 20 minutes. If not: cook pasta in separate pot just before serving; drain pasta ; add desired quantity of soup to cooked pasta; heat to desired temperature; serve.

Serving suggestion: Serve with warm bread (or soda crackers) and two buck chuck red or iced tea.

Notes:

You can use other lower fat ground meats. If you do, you should add 3-4 Tbsp EVOO to the pan before adding the meat. It will stick if you don’t.

You can use frozen then crumbled firm tofu for a fully vegetarian version. If you do: Freeze the tofu in it’s container; thaw ; skip step one ; add 4 Tbsp EVOO to stock pot, then proceed to step 2; add tofu the last 20 minutes of cooking.

This recipe will make about 8-10 large servings. The soup is stew like in consistency. If you add 1 part boiling water to 1 part soup in the serving bowl then provide hearty bread/crackers and salad/dessert this recipe could feed 16-20 hungry people. Watering the soup down in this fashion will not diminish the flavor.