Vegetarian Minestrone

Hadice's Note:

I love a flavorful minestrone on a cold night. The herbs compliment each other wonderfully. Serve with garlic breadsticks and an Italian salad.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 cup dried great northern beans , presoaked
• 1 (14 ½ ounce) can whole tomatoes , coarsley chopped, with juice
• 3 cups tomato juice
• 2 cups vegetable broth or 2 cups water
• 2 cups water
• 1 small yellow onion , chopped
• 3 carrots , sliced
• 2 stalks celery , sliced
• ¼ cup chopped parsley
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• fresh ground pepper
• 2 cups chopped cabbage
• 1 medium zucchini , unpeeled, quartered length-wise and sliced
• ¾ cup uncooked macaroni or ¾ cup other small shell pasta
• freshly grated parmesan cheese , for topping
• homemade garlic-flavored croutons , if desired

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot over high heat, combine drained beans, tomatoes, tomato juice, stock, water, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, salt, basil, thyme, oregano, and pepper.
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 1 hour and 15 minutes.
3. Add cabbage, zucchini, and macaroni and cooked, covered, until macaroni and vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
4. For a thicker soup, remove about 1 cup vegetables and puree in a food processor or blender.
5. Return to soup pot and simmer, uncovered, until blended. Ladle into bowls and top with Parmesan cheese and garlic croutons.

Reviews

[Kimberly D.]

Thankyou for posting! I recently made minestrone which was so good, but I didn't bookmark the recipe. This is almost exactly what I did and it was sooo good! Thanks! I like your ratio of tomato juice to broth, I will make it this way this time, I'm sure it will be great!

[DragonShoes]

Yay! I loved this soup. You get 5 stars. It was even better the next day! ***Any vegetarians out there you might like to pop into our group at Yahoo under groups: vegetarian_group