LET’S MAKE ITALIAN BEAN & MINESTRONE SOUP

LET’S MAKE ITALIAN BEAN & MINESTRONE SOUP -( some things are just TOO GOOD TO THROW AWAY)

There is no better time of year than SOUP TIME!  The climate is getting cooler, flakes of snow are starting to fall and Christmas is just around the corner.   So let’s get our jimjams (PJ’s) on,  click on the Netflix and get a nice comforting bowl of soup with some fresh crusty bread.

Yesterday I was in Morrisons, a UK based supermarket and in the vegetable department I found this really neat idea.  Morrisons had these boxes made up which were labelled  – TOO GOOD TO THROW AWAY – and each box was full of great vegetables and fruit which they were selling for only £1.  This got me thinking, how many times do you open the bottom drawer of your fridge and find an assortment of vegetables that are just about ready to put their best foot forward and take a hike right out of the vegetable drawer.  So I decided to rescue the situation and turn these TOO GOOD TO THROW AWAY veggies and turn them into a wonderful pot of Italian Bean & Minestrone Soup.  The result was amazing.  I even found a half a bottle of Pinot Grigio and how that even made it into the fridge, only the wine fairy knows the answer to that.

In my search I found 4 softish tomatoes which I chopped up.  A bag of carrots that were crying out – USE ME.  Some celery that was left over from adorning Bloody Mary’s.  A bag of green beans.  Several garlic bulbs.  In the cupboard I found some Butter and Cannellini beans.  Went to the garden and picked some fresh herbs, added 1000ml of chicken stock plus 3/4 cup of pasta and voila.  There is no measuring required here and what you will produce is something quite delicious.

ITALIAN BEAN & MINESTRONE SOUP – made easy

4 chopped tomatoes (or 1 tin chopped toms), 4/5 stalks celery, 2/3/4 garlic cloves chopped,  2 chopped onions, 5/6 chopped carrots, some chopped green beans, 1 tin butter beans, 1 tin cannellini beans, 1000 ml chicken stock, 1/2 cup of Pinot Grigio if you have any left over (lol), 1/2 cup of a small sized pasta (macaroni or such like), some fresh herbs.

Add 2tbsp of olive oil to your soup pot – add onions, garlic, carrots, celery, green beans and saute gently.  Add tomatoes, wine, beans, chicken stock and whatever else you would like to throw in.  Mix well, bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer for 1 hour.

Get yourself some lovely crusty bread and some grated parmesan to top off and just ENJOY.

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Thank you for stopping by.

Mary Joan Calder