Minestrone Soup

My family has decided that we are going to change our ways a little and try to eat extra healthy this month! So I will leave the sweet recipes up to Pam!! I do have a few I have made but not yet posted so I will try to add a few in the middle of all the healthy ones!!

With Mike out of town a lot, it gives me a chance to try my crazy veggie recipes out on my kids! Mike is always good about eating whatever I make, but he does like chicken or meat with his dinner. He has done better as I have in the past few months started to take meat out of meals and replace them with whole grains and veggies!

With temperatures -27 here last night I felt it was a good night for soup and homemade bread! I will post the soup today the the yummy roll recipe tomorrow! My Tyler (7 years old) ate two bowls of this soup which made me very happy!!

Keep warm with a warm bowl of soup!

Minestrone Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
5 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery leaves and all, chopped
1 sweet onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (15 ounce) can kidney or navy beans, drained and rinsed
1 can petite diced italian tomatoes
2 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
4 cups water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

1 tablespoon salt
2 cups cooked shell pasta
couple handfuls of fresh spinach leaves

DIRECTIONS

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and garlic into pot. Mix in tomato paste, beans, tomatoes, broth and water. Season with basil, oregano and salt. Cook and stir 30-40 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

Add the chopped spinach the last 5 minutes.

Cook shell pasta in a seperate pot until al dente. Stir pasta into soup. Serve with a generous sprinkle of fresh parmesan! Yum!

Source: The Sisters Cafehttp://sisterscafe.blogspot.com