Minestrone Soup

At least once a week if not more I try and make a vegetarian meal for dinner. Meat is expensive so this is one way to help us cut down on costs plus it can be much healthier. I have seen recipes that add ground beef to this Minestrone but I like to keep my just beans and veggies. This is a really healthy soup because it it basically just a big bowl of veggies and beans. You may be thinking that your children will never eat this but trust me the flavor of it is amazing! My oldest daughter is not a fan of beans but you put cheese on anything and she'll eat it. Topping the soup with parmesan cheese is a great option and it makes taste even better! Minestrone is one of my favorite kinds of soup so it makes me very happy that making it is super easy. If you can put stuff in a large pot and let it boil you can make this soup! 

Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large pot. Dice half an onion, 3 stalks of celery, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1/4 cup of fresh parsley and add to the pot. Saute them until they are tender, about 3-4 minutes. 





 Peel and slice 3 carrots and add them to the pot. Add in 5 cups of beef broth (if you want to keep it completely vegetarian use vegetable broth instead), 1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, 15 oz tomato sauce, and 2 teaspoons dried basil. You can also season it with a little salt and pepper if you like. Bring to boil then reduce the heat to low and cover. You want it to be simmering for 1 hour.

Slice 2 zucchinis length wise and then into slices so they are half circles; add them to the pot after it has simmered for an hour. Also stir in 1 can of kidney beans, 1 can of garbanzo beans (rinse both of them first) and 1 cup of uncooked ditalini pasta. I have not been able to find whole wheat ditalini so if you really want to use whole wheat pasta you can use whole wheat spaghetti that is cut into 3 inch pieces. Cover the pot again and simmer for another 15-20 minutes or until the pasta is cooked. 

If you like you can top the soup with parmesan cheese. And there you have it - hearty, warm, delicious minestrone soup!

Cost Break Down!!

1/4 cup of olive oil cost me $0.32. 1 onion cost $0.41 so half an onion is $0.20. A bag of celery was $1.29 and 3 stalks was about half so $0.65. A garlic head is $0.25 so 2 cloves is about $0.04. My husband and I grow our own parsley so I'm not even sure how much parsley costs but I think it's pretty cheap, especially only a 1/4 cup. A 1 lb bag of carrots was $0.40 and I used about half so it was $0.20. The can of diced tomatoes cost me $1.00, the tomato sauce was also $1.00, and the beef broth cost me $2.50. The 2 zucchini cost me $0.87. The kidney beans cost $0.69 and the garbanzo beans were $0.95. The entire box of pasta cost me $0.99 so 1 cup was about 1/4 of the box so it cost $0.25.

All together the soup cost me $8.67 and it made a huge pot of soup! It made about 14-15 cups of soup. It was enough to feed my family of 4 dinner and lunch the next day (and my husband had 3 bowls for dinner) for less than $10!