Homemade Minestrone Soup

 

Tis the season for homemade soup! Whenever I come down with a cold in the winter, all I want is a big bowl of homemade minestrone soup. This minestrone is packed with hearty vegetables, kidney beans, and a few scoops of shell pasta.

I try to avoid any type of store-bought soup or canned soup because they tend to be very high in sodium. I use low-sodium vegetable broth for this recipe, and I even add a little bit of water so it isn’t too salty. Those on a gluten-free diet are welcome to use brown rice shell pasta in place of regular pasta.

Homemade Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

• 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup cooked whole grain shell pasta
• ¼ cup white onion, diced
• ½ cup carrots, sliced
• ½ cup celery, sliced
• ½ cup zucchini, chopped
• ½ cup diced tomato
• 1 cup kidney beans, rinsed
• ½ cup spinach leaves, chopped
• ½ cup water
• Sea salt, pepper and basil, to taste
• 1-2 tsp olive oil, for grilling

Instructions

1. In a medium pot, cook shell pasta in boiling water until soft. Strain and set aside.
2. Melt olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery and zucchini. Cook for 5 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the tomato sauce, vegetable broth, water, diced tomatoes, beans, spinach, pasta shells, and a dash of basil, sea salt and pepper. Stir together and bring to a low boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Taste and add more salt or other spices if desired.