Minestrone - better late than never!

OK, I admit - this isn't a real, "traditional" minestrone. It's more like a kitchen-sink-whatever's-laying-around-plus spinach and parmesan cheese-minestrone-wannabe. But, it's good! And you can customize it to whatever you've got laying around in your cabinets.

The ingredients:

- 1/2 of a large onion, diced
- 1 cup of sliced carrot
- 1/2 lb. dried white beans, soaked for a minimum of 8 hours (but preferably overnight), picked through, and drained.
- 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 cup (ish) frozen green beans
- 1 can sweet corn, drained
- 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1/2 bag of fresh spinach
- olive oil
- salt, pepper, italian seasoning
- parmesan cheese
- about 6 cups of stock. You *can* use chicken, but vegetable is more traditional. (not pictured.. d'oh!)
- garlic. I think I used 3 or 4 big cloves.. but I'm a garlic freak.

Yes... I'm aware I didn't use any pasta. Yes, I'm aware that this is a travesty of huge proportions for all of you minestrone purists. HOWEVER - this makes a HUGE pot of soup, and I knew I would be eating leftovers for at least 2 or 3 days. I hate how mushy pasta gets when left in soup, and I hate how much of the liquid it absorbs while it's in the frig - so I left it out. You can certainly toss it in if that doesn't bother you, or cook it separately and just add it when you're ready to eat.

This is a really (really) easy recipe. I promise.

First, saute your onion and your carrot in a good swirl of olive oil. Normally, I'd say to add some celery in here too - and you certainly can, if celery is your THING... but I hate it. Haaaaate. It's stringy and watery and has no nutritional value, and YICK. Saute your veg until the onion is translucent, then toss in your garlic. Let it warm up for a minute or so - but don't let it brown.

OK - next, toss in everything except the spinach and the green beans. (We want to keep the green veggies GREEN, not brown and slimy. Those go in at the end.) Simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes, or until the beans and potatoes are cooked through.

Next, pick through your spinach, and remove any tough stems. Stack it up on itself, and slice it up a little. (Note: employing girl-children to photograph the slicing may have saved my fingers from disaster. Thank you, Abbey!)

Toss your green beans and spinach into the pot, and cook just for 5 or 6 minutes - just long enough for the beans to heat up but stay crunchy, and the spinach to wilt into the  soup. Taste and make sure it is well seasoned - add salt or pepper if needed. I top mine with a ton of Parmesan cheese. MMmmmmmM!!!!

My kids ate THREE BOWLS of this stuff.. each. That is an insane amount of healthy veggie-ness for a 9 and 7 year old. I firmly believe that this process has made them both much more interested in the how's and why's of cooking, and has made them more liable to eat "good stuff" instead of junk.

I'm making my version of beef stroganoff tonight, so watch for that tomorrow!


Now - I need your opinions. As part of my "stop being a lard ass" resolution of 2011, I am trying to cook a minimum of 2 vegetarian meals per week, AND cut down on our family's sugar consumption. I am considering adding meal planning, grocery shopping tips, and vegetarian cooking to my blog. Is this something you would be interested in reading about? Please let me know, and I'll see what I can do!

Namaste, faithful readers! <3