Longevity Soup - Minestrone

Recipe:
Amounts of vegetables can vary according to your taste and seasonal availability of veggies and legumes. This will make enough for 6 to 8 servings. To make it easy for a weeknight meal, I used canned tomatoes and canned beans.

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil – enough to coat the bottom of the pot, about ¼ cup

• 1 small onion

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 carrots

• 2 stalks celery 

• 1/2 fennel bulb

• 1 24 oz can of diced tomatoes

  • Note: whole peeled tomatoes in can are next best option. Chop them before adding to the soup with all their juice.

• 4 cups Water or chicken stock

• 1 tbl finely chopped parsley

• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp Morton’s kosher salt

• 1/2 tsp pepper

• Grated Parmesan cheese as final topping

• Optional or additional vegetable add-ins include: zucchini, cauliflower, *peas, *spinach, *kale, and *corn (*add at the end of the cooking process so they don’t overcook).

• Optional Pasta; 1/2 cup per person, a small shape like little shells, or ditalini works well.

Preparation:

Chop all veggies to approximately the same size. The smaller they are cut, the quicker they will cook.

Heat oil in a 6 quart Dutch Oven, add veggies to pot with hot oil and sauté over medium heat until soft and translucent.

Add 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp black pepper.

Add a 14 oz can of your choice of drained beans; chickpeas, northern white or pinto. Or, even a combination of beans. If you like more beans, add another can. It’s about what you like.
Sauté beans and veggies together for a few minutes.

Add one 24 oz can of diced tomatoes. I’ve tried this with crushed or pureed tomatoes, and the result is more of a tomato soup.

• Cook for a few minutes, breaking apart any chunks of tomatoes and continue to cook on medium high heat until all ingredients are hot.

• Add 1 qt of water or chicken stock, bringing soup to a vigorous simmer.

• Taste for seasoning, salt and pepper, and adjust, if needed.

• Continue cooking until soup becomes thick and color becomes a deep red, vs. a bright, fresh tomato red. About 40 minutes.

• At this time you may add more water to achieve a thinner consistency.

Note: I like my "soup" thick, some people prefer it more "soupy". It's your choice, but if you add a lot of water, be sure to cook it long enough to achieve the full flavor.

• After 40 minutes add optional veggies which cook faster, like peas, kale, spinach, corn, etc.. This should take another 15 to 20 minutes to cook the added vegetables and reduce further.
  Note: the longer the soup cooks the better it gets.

• Adding Pasta: During the last 10 minutes you can add a small pasta to make this even more hearty, but it's great without the added pasta, and its Keto friendly. If you are not going to eat all the soup in one night, I suggest cooking whatever pasta you need (1/2 cup person) separately. Otherwise it will expand a lot and get mushy if you leave it in the soup and reheat it.

• Top with grated Parmesan cheese and finely diced parsley or basil.