Minestrone Soup: Dinner of the Week

Miss Yunks’ new dinner plan is to make enough of one recipe to last for a whole week. Sometimes the work week is too busy and unpredictable to make a new recipe each night, and I hardly want to start cooking after a long work day. I’ve never really been into leftovers, but lately it’s a big relief to come home to dinner just waiting to be reheated.

Two weeks ago, I made Cara’s Wagon Wheel Taco Pasta Salad. I was waiting to photograph it until my avocado ripened, but it wasn’t a good week for my avocado so that photo didn’t happen. But, I will say that this was a perfect recipe to make to last a week. Not only does the recipe make enough to last, the flavors meld together and taste better each day. I just squirted more lime juice over my serving each night to refresh the sauce.

So what’s another recipe that gets better with time? Minestrone soup.

We had just stopped in Portland, Maine over the weekend and popped into Standard Baking Company. I got a morning bun, which was sticky and delicious that afternoon, and a loaf of dark sour dough bread. I wanted a recipe to pair with the thick crusty bread and minestrone soup sounded like a simple solution. The great thing about minestrone soup is you can use whatever vegetables or beans you prefer and alter the quantities and spices to your taste.

Minestrone Soup

Ingredients
olive oil
1 bag of baby carrots, sliced
green beans, sliced
kale, teared in small pieces
1 can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
1 can of cannellini beans
6-8 cups of vegetarian broth
oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Pour about 1-2 tsp olive oil in large pot over medium heat.  Put sliced carrots in first and let heat for 5 minutes.
2. Add in green beans, kale, tomatoes, and cannellini beans, stirring with wooden spoon.
3. Add in broth and spices.  Stir soup together and let simmer for 30 minutes.
4. When vegetables are tender and some liquid has reduced, soup is ready to serve.

I served it with an Italian blend of cheeses and the sour dough bread. While the soup was simmering, I made pasta in a separate pot.  I served the soup with a small amount of pasta. When I stored the soup for the week, I stored the pasta in a separate container so it wouldn’t absorb all of the broth.

I had a healthy and hearty dinner each night last week and was able to eat within minutes of arriving home.

What are your favorite work-day dinners?