On a cold day, vegetable soup just hits the spot. I also wanted to start including more vegan and vegetarian-friendly recipes, and this one is a great addition. Keep in mind as you make it during the year, you can always swap out some of the seasonal veggies, as this recipe can easily be served year round (if you are obsessed with soup like I am). Also, I always leave the onion out if I am sharing with our pup and I always end up adding a little more grated cheese... because why not?!?
Ingredients:
3 Tbs. olive oil
6 celery stalks finely chopped
2 medium-sized red potatoes cut into halves, then quartered
1/2 white onion, chopped (leave this out if you plan on sharing scraps with any four-legged family members)
1 can cannellini beans, strained and rinsed
2 cans sliced carrots, strained
7.5 oz. butternut squash, frozen
2 zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 can diced tomatoes
1.5 Tbs. tomato paste
3 - 4, 32 oz. containers of vegetable broth
1 lbs. of your favorite pasta, I love small eblow pasta with this soup
3 Tbs. parsley finely chopped
Salt and pepper (to taste)
2 cups fresh spinach (add last)
Grated parmesan cheese, to garnish
Instructions:
In a large soup pot, add your olive oil, celery, and onion. Bring to a light simmer so the celery and onion start to soften.
Now you are going to slowly add in your vegetable broth, only ever having enough to just cover your veggies, and the tomato paste. Let your rue-like mixture simmer for about 25 minutes.
Now it's time to add your beans and a full container of vegetable broth, keeping on a low simmer for an additional 15 minutes.
Now it's time to add your remaining broth (should be about 2.5 containers or a little less), diced tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, squash, salt, pepper, and parsley. Cook on low, covered for about 3 hours (just under a slight simmer, you don't want the soup to boil for the whole 3 hours).
Now you are ready to cook your pasta. In a large pot, boil water and add pasta, let remain at a slow boil until pasta is cooked.
Just before straining your pasta, add a full 1-2 ladles of starchy water to your soup (depending on how much extras you added).
Strain and rinse pasta, then serve as pictured.
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