Bean & Vegetable Soup

Bean & Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• 5 cup vegetable broth

• 2 cans white beans (Garbanzo, Great Northern, Cannellini)

• 1 cup diced celery stalks

• 2 cups diced carrots

• 1 cup diced zucchini

• 1 small onion, diced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 12 fresh or frozen okra

• 1 can petite diced tomatoes, undrained

• 3/4 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 5 cups fresh spinach

• grated Parmesan for serving

1. Drain beans and rinse. Set aside.

2. In a large soup pot on medium heat, add oil and saute onion, celery and carrots for 5 minutes.

3. Add zucchini and garlic and cook 2 minutes.

4. Add okra, tomatoes, beans, broth and seasonings. Stir to combine.

5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook 10 to 12 minutes.

6. Remove from heat and stir in spinach. Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.

7. Ladle in bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan.

8. Serve with your favorite bread.

Serves: about 6

Notes&Tips:

• This is a super easy dish to make. Cooking it was a breeze. Most of the time was spent in prepping the vegetables.

• I used canned beans in this meal, as I was short on time. If using dry beans, you can prepare before hand. Make sure to soak your beans overnight.

• I served this on a rainy day and it was a welcome sight. The mix of colors brought light to the table and was a feast for eyes that only saw grey all day. And even though it is spring, our trees are mostly bare and there are no flowers in the garden yet. Even the birds were not making their racket yesterday.

• The vegetables were all cooked al dente and the heat from the soup wilted the spinach nicely. A dish like this packs a ton of flavor and gives you maximum nutritional value.