Round 2 Recipe

So, if you were like me and made the Mediterranean vegetables from yesterday's post and had a ton of vegetables left over here is a recipe to use them up. Ill post the original recipe and then tell you my add ins :) I found this new cookbook "The Ultimate Fat Free Cookbook" at a garage sale for 75 cents. It has some old fashioned recipes but some really great ones too. All of them have less than 10 grams of fat and most of them have less than 3. It was a great find! That is where the recipe for this soup comes from and the veggies from yesterday. This soup is delicious and filling. You won't even miss the meat!

Vegetable Minestrone

Makes: 6 servings

Source: The Ultimate Fat Free Cookbook

Calories 87 Fat 0.7g (0.1g Saturated) Cholesterol 0 mg Fiber 3.3g

Ingredients:

1 Onion, Chopped

1 Leek, Sliced

1 stalk Celery, Sliced

2 Carrots, Diced

2 cloves Garlic, Crushed

2 1⁄2 cups Chicken Stock

1 can Chopped Tomatoes, 28 oz can

1⁄2 cup Frozen Peas

2 ounces Pasta

1 teaspoon Sugar

1 tablespoon Chopped Fresh Parsley

1 tablespoon Chopped Fresh Basil

 Salt and Pepper

Directions: 

Step 1: Put the prepared onion, leek, celery, carrot and garlic into a large pan. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Step 2: Add the canned tomatoes and the frozen peas. Bring back to a boil and add the soup pasta. Simmer for 10 minutes until tender.

Step 3: Season with sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the chopped herbs just before serving.

• So. I skipped the leek- and I didn't miss it. 
• I added fresh peas from my garden, instead of frozen peas. 
• I used whole grain elbow macaroni for my pasta (the recipe said soup pasta- but what exactly is that.....) and it cooked in the 10 minutes it simmers and looked cute in there :) 
• I added about 3/4 cup of left over baked veggies from yesterday. I chopped them up a little bit just so they would be the same size as everything else. 
• I skipped the sugar 
• I skipped the parsley (I added extra basil because I had that in the garden) 
• I added a bunch (about 1/2 cup fresh) of spinach from the garden. This made it so much better- but I love love love spinach in just about anything. 

My sister said "so there isn't really anything bad for you in here right?" she is right. Even the pasta is whole grain :) How can you go wrong with veggies and whole grain pasta?! Yum! 

http://www.kitchenmonki.com/recipe/Vegetable_Minestrone