Minestrone Soup | Soup Recipes

This delicious soup is wholesome and sure to fill you up (and your fridge) for a weeknight dinner. Just pick up a loaf of bread from the supermarket (or bake one if you have time) to pair it up. Or skip the bread altogether, it is awesome by itself.
Now, filling up the fridge part, this recipe serves a great make-ahead meal and is a double amount of what my family has for dinner. So whenever I make this, it serves the next meal too. It can also be frozen.

Ingredients:
Serves - 4-6
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Onion, chopped - 1 cup
Garlic, minced - 4 cloves
Celery, chopped - 2 stalks
Carrot, medium sized, diced - 2
Green beans, chopped - 1 cups
Cauliflower florets - 1 cup
Broccoli florets - 1 cup
Bell peppers, julienned - 1 cup (I used mini peppers)
Dried Italian seasoning - 1 tbsp
Crushed tomatoes from can - 2 cups
Sugar - 1/4 tsp
Vegetable Stock / Chicken stock - 3 cups (Use low sodium variety)
Water - 3 cups (You could substitute stock for water)
Black beans, cooked - 1-1/2 cups (or use 1 can of black beans, rinsed)
Salt & pepper - to taste
Pasta, any small variety - 1/4 cup
Parmesan cheese - to garnish (optional)

Method:

Heat oil in a large stockpot and saute the onion, garlic and celery. When the onion takes a light shade of brown add the carrots and green beans and fry for 3 minutes. Now tip in the cauliflower and broccoli florets and saute for another 2 minutes. Now add the bell peppers and the italian seasoning. Add the crushed tomatoes and sugar. Now add the stock and water with salt and pepper to taste. Allow the soup to come to a boil. Add the black beans and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Add the pasta and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve hot in a bowl, topped with parmesan cheese.