a soup for all seaons

We are soup people. I have a soup for every occasion. Hearty soups, light soups, kid-friendly soups and soup with "little pests" (parsley).

I'm going to share my newest favorite soup recipe. First, because I'm nice like that. And second, because I wanted to get some pictures of all the beautiful vegetables, chopped in neat little piles. Little piles of freshly cut veggies make me happy. Very happy. For those of you that knew me when, the thought of me cooking might seem a bit of a stretch, but in fact I am a quite industrious in the kitchen. I have watched Rachel Ray for years, and I can whip up one of her 30-minute meals in just over an hour. ;-)



Come on, you have to admit they're beautiful!



Three Bean Pasta e Fagioli:

Put extra virgin olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add:
1 yellow onion (chopped)
1/2 bag baby carrots (chopped)
2 tsp. chopped garlic (from the little glass jar)
salt & pepper
2 dried bay leaves
--Sautee 8 minutes--


Add:
1 can white beans (I use navy beans)
1 can garbanzo beans
3 TBSP. tomato paste
--Cook 1 minute--


Add:
6 cups water
6 tsp. Wylers chicken granules
--Bring to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes.--


Add *fresh* green beans. (not canned!! ewwwwww!) Simmer 3-4 minutes.


Turn off heat. Add fresh parsley and zest of one lemon.


Easy, right? I was trying to make the recipe look as simple as possible, because it really is. It won't let me indent as I list the ingredients, and it looks confusing. But it's really not!

Oh, and I usually cook up some mini penne pasta to add to the soup. COOK IT SEPARATELY, in it's own pot. Only add pasta to the soup you are eating at that meal. (As you should with all soups). Don't add pasta to the big pot.

If you don't like fresh green beans, you won't like this soup. Same goes for garbanzo beans. This is a lighter soup. The fresh parsley and lemon zest at the end make it very refreshing; definitely a 4-season soup.

I was so excited to add pictures throughout my recipe, but it looked really confusing and hard to read. But they're SO pretty, please humor me by ooohhhhing and aaahhhhing over the delightfulness.



ooohhhhhhh


aaahhhhhhh


Better than a big bag of greasy take-out, right? Yum!