3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small zucchini, halved and sliced
1/2 cup green beans, 1" pieces
1 large carrot, halved and sliced
4 cups vegetable broth
8 ounces diced tomatoes
4 cups tomato juice
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 sprig thyme, minced
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
19 ounces cooked red kidney beans
19 ounces cooked cannellini beans
3 ounces shell pasta
salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, zucchini, green beans and carrot and sauté until onion is tender.
2. Add the vegetable broth, tomatoes and tomato juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add parsley, thyme, basil, oregano and sage. Simmer until vegetables are tender.
3. Stir in the beans and pasta and cook until pasta is tender. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with crusty bread.

Makes 8 servings

I don't know anyone that doesn't like Minestrone. It's a hearty vegetable soup with great flavor. It's also incredibly nutritious. This recipe in particular has 10 different types of vegetables in it, if you include the ones I used to make my vegetable broth. Mainly, I wanted something that would compliment the delicious bread I picked up yesterday, a very rustic whole wheat sourdough. I ignored the bread completely and stuffed my face with minestrone instead.

I never really make a point of making my own broth. If I happen to have leftover meat and bones, I'll make stock, if I happen to have wilted celery and carrots, I'll make vegetable broth. On this instance, I just thought that the soup would benefit from it. That and I couldn't find any at the grocery store. My only complaint here is that the soup had a bit of a tinny taste from the tomatoes, so I added a few pinches of sugar to try and counteract that. It did not seem to be as prevalent after that, and after allowing it to cool and sit for a few hours. I imagine this will be a big soup month since it's such a nice comfort food for the winter.