Pizza Minestrone

Our local elementary school does a neat program called "Farm to School". It gives the students a chance to taste fresh produce grown on local farms. Peer pressure works in a positive way to encourage the children to try the produce and I witnessed some kids - mostly boys - competing with each other to see who could eat the most samples before the end of lunch. Hey, whatever it takes!

I got a note from one of the volunteers telling me that my daughter, Bug, absolutely loved the fresh vegetable minestrone soup. She went up for seconds and possibly thirds and said that the soup was so good it should be called Pizza Minestrone and the school should sell it. So the volunteer sent me the recipe and I made it the next week, where it was again met with positive results. Any time Bug is willing to eat any vegetarian meal is a good time since Bug would like to be vegetarian, or at least a flexitarian (basically someone who is mostly vegetarian, but sometimes eats meat). I have no problems with her becoming a vegetarian, but she knows she must eat a wide variety of vegetables, paying careful attention to being sure she gets enough protein and iron from vegetables and fruits. So far she's not eating enough of a variety, but this soup is a good step toward that.

(Adapted from the MCPASD School Nutrition Services recipe)

- 1.5 quarts of broth (I used chicken, but any should work)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup onions
- 2-3 cups carrots, scrubbed and diced (don't bother peeling them - it's a waste of time and carrot)
- 2 cups shredded green cabbage
- 2 cups diced celery
- 2 cans diced tomatoes - fire roasted if you can get them
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cans cannelloni beans (these seem to be the most inoffensive beans to my kids)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 3/4 tsp dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp dried basil or 3 Tbsp pesto
- 3/4 tsp dried parsley
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic granules or 3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
- salt to taste
- 4 oz whole grain pasta (I like the little shells when I can find them)
- Parmesan cheese to taste



Heat olive oil in a large stock pot and saute onions, carrots, and celery until softened.

Add all remaining ingredients, except for the pasta and cheese. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until veggies are soft.

While veggies cook, prepare pasta according to package directions.

Add cooked pasta to soup after 20-30 minutes and simmer for another 5 minutes.


*** You can use fresh herbs if you'd like, but I'm not good about using up fresh herbs in the winter when I'm most likely to make soup. Or if you have any Wildtree spaghetti sauce spice mix, you can put 2 generous tablespoons in the soup instead of the individual dried spices. I also used the bones from the previous night's rotisserie chicken to make chicken stock for the soup. I just covered the bones with about 3 quarts of water and cooked in a crock pot all night.