Apr 8, 2016

Friday Feasting: Minestrone


"The kids and I were invited to a sweet friend's house a few weeks ago for lunch and a playdate and it was a Friday during Lent.  For us, we are pretty simple with our Lenten meals - pancakes, fish sticks, egg & tuna sandwhiches, meatless pasta dishes, and more - super simple is the "name of our game"!  So, when we arrived to our friend's house to the amazing aroma of a yummy homemade soup simmering on her stove, I was overtaken with appreciation from the hospitality she showed to us by all the work put into it!  (She's an amazing friend, if you haven't got the hint yet!  I just love her to pieces!)  Anyways, I *had* to make the same recipe for my own family the next Friday.  So we searched online and found one very similar to hers and tweaked it a little.  Our kids gobbled it down at her house, that I actually had to make it a second time during Lent!  And once again, it was gobbled down!!  You can make the meatless version (see below) or even brown up a pound of ground beef or sausage to make it more hearty.  But the meatless version was amazing in itself!!  Enjoy, my sweet friends!!"

Ingredients

1/2 cup minced onion
1 small yellow zuchinni - diced
1 small green zuchinni - diced
1 bag frozen cut green beans
1 bag of crinkle cut carrots
1/2 cup minced celery
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 cups of vegetable broth
2 - 15 oz cans red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
2 - 15 oz cans great northern beans (drained and rinsed)
1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Directions

1.  Pour everything into your crock pot and stir.  Let cook on LOW for 8 hours.
2.  Serve with bread - store bought or homemade (you can even try Ma Lorij's homemade rolls!).
3.  Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top, if desired!

Variations

***you can add small shell pasta for the last 30 minutes, if you want (we did not, but it's a popular minestrone ingredient).
***you can also add meat - ground beef or sausage.  Up to you!!  Or the meatless version we ate was amazing too!
***you can also switch out the broth to chicken broth, for a meat version



2 comments:

  1. This recipe will totally work for our new eating plan! It sounds amazing and I can't wait to make it for my clan.

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    Replies
    1. Oh great!! I'm glad it will work for you guys!! It's was a winner at our place and OH so healthy too! Win for the momma and win for the kids!! :)

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