Mid-Winter Soup: Italian Bean Soup

Last winter (2012), I started cooking 1-2 meals per week that were meatless. 

I mainly did this to keep the grocery bill lower AND because it's better for our health.

This winter, starting last week, I've decided to do TWO dinners a week that are meatless and I'm no longer purchasing ground beef unless it is antibiotic-free, hormone-free(most stores carry this now for about $7.00 a lb) OR is grass fed(hard to find in my area and VERY expensive(over $9 a lb) when I DO find it). SO...I've replaced ground beef with bison(about $6 a lb usually) twice a month for recipes like pizza burgers, tacos, meatloaf, meat-sauce for linguine, etc.  Any recipe that calls for ground beef, I will use bison or the kind mentioned above.

With that, I am also exploring vegetarian meals.  

The following is one I discovered in a Simple and Delicious magazine a couple years ago.

I made this for tonite's dinner and it was hearty, flavorful, and easy!  My husband didn't even notice that it was meatless! :)

The following recipe is one that I "tweaked" using some favorite Italian spices.

image taken from simple and delicious website

ITALIAN BEAN SOUP

1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced

2 small red potatoes, peeled and finely chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbl olive oil

3 cans reduced-sodium chicken broth 

(I used 4 cups)

1 can (15 oz) white northern or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (14 1/2 oz) stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 Tbl dried parsley

2 Tbl dried basil

1/4 c. uncooked orzo pasta

2 c. fresh baby spinach

1/4  grated parmesan cheese

• In a Dutch oven, saute the onion, potato, celery, and garlic in the olive oil until tender or until onions just begin to brown.
• Stir in the broth, beans, tomatoes, parsley and basil.
• Bring to a boil.
• Stir in orzo.  Reduce the heat and cover.
• Simmer, covered, for 10-15 min or until pasta is tender.
• Add the spinach ( the original recipe calls for just one cup....we like the fresh spinach so I added an extra cup) and cook until just wilted. DO NOT OVERCOOK THE SPINACH!
• Sprinkle each serving with the cheese.

PLEASE NOTE:  I didn't like the fact that stewed tomatoes are often big chunks so the next time I make this (in a couple of weeks) I will replace those with one can of DICED tomatoes (low sodium).

TIPS:  this is a hearty meal.  I served it with fresh grapes and Garlic Texas Toast. 

Other ideas include serving it with a fresh fruit platter, garlic bread or rolls or parmesan breadsticks.

This recipe gave us enough for 2 lunches the following day.

As with all of the recipes on here under the "faithfixes" label, you do have permission to copy this post!

DO YOU THINK THIS IS A SOUP YOU OR YOUR FAMILY WOULD ENJOY??