Healthy Garden Minestrone Soup

It’s Fall and yet it’s still over 90 degrees in Southern California but I”m not going to let that stop me from making soup.  Fall is my favorite season and I can’t wait for mornings where I can pretend like I”m smoking and I”m blowing cold puffs out my mouth and I can put on my chunky sweaters with jeans and boots.  Summer is such a tease.  I love it when it does come but it’s stay is far longer than I want 😉

I haven’t been eating enough vegetables and a soup is a great place to throw a whole bunch of them together and get all my vitamins and nutrients I’ve been missing out on.  I’ve mentioned before I don’t ever crave soup unless I’m sick- but that won’t make me give up on trying different recipes to find one I will remake.  I got this recipe from Cooking Light– so as expected it’s very low in Calories and very tasty too.  I will make this again when it’s cold out and I”m not sweating after eating it. 😉

Note:  I didn’t have 3 cups worth of tomatoes- so I used 1 can of tomatoes and 3/4 can of tomato sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups chopped yellow squash
• 3 cups chopped zucchini
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
• 4 cups chopped tomato, divided
• 3 (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided
• 1/2 cup uncooked ditalini pasta (very short tube-shaped macaroni)
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup (4 ounces) grated Asiago cheese
• Coarsely ground black pepper (optional)

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until softened. Add oregano and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Stir in squash, zucchini, carrot, and corn; sauté 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat.
2. Place 3 cups tomato and 1 can broth in a blender; process until smooth. Add tomato mixture to pan; return pan to heat. Stir in remaining 1 cup tomato and remaining 2 cans broth; bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. Add pasta and beans to pan; cook 10 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in spinach, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Ladle soup into individual bowls; top with cheese. Garnish with coarsely ground black pepper, if desired.

Kathryn Conrad, Cooking Light
SEPTEMBER 2005

Nutritional Information

Amount per serving

• Calories: 217
• Calories from fat: 25%
• Fat: 6.1g
• Saturated fat: 2.7g
• Monounsaturated fat: 2g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 0.6g
• Protein: 12.6g
• Carbohydrate: 30.5g
• Fiber: 7.9g
• Cholesterol: 12mg
• Iron: 2.7mg
• Sodium: 812mg
• Calcium: 206mg