Minestrone soup (Slimming World friendly)
It's definitely coming into soup season the weathers getting colder so starting to make some hearty soups to take to work for lunches. This soup is really tasty and filling it's a meal in itself.
I have recently been using the frozen soup base mixes available in most supermarkets as it makes it so much quicker not having to peel and chop vegetables. They contain onion, carrot and celery. and if you have this in the freezer everything else was in my cupboards so you can make a batch of soup really quickly without having to go and do a special food shop.
I used canned haricot beans but you can use any tinned beans like black beans, red kidney, cannellini or even baked beans if you fancy it. As for the pasta I had macaroni in the cupboard but any small pasta is fine even broken up spaghetti.
Minestrone soup
1/2 pack frozen vegetable soup base (see above) OR 2 carrots, 1 onion, 2 sticks celery finely chopped.
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can haricot beans (or any beans you like)
1 tbsp tomato puree
3 pints vegetable stock (from a cube is fine)
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
4 cloves garlic (crushed or I use frozen)
1/2 tsp chili flakes
250g macaroni or any small pasta shapes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
low calorie spray oil
Take a large saucepan and spray with the oil then add the chopped vegetables and cook over a lowish heat until they start to soften slightly add a splash of water if they start to stick. Add the oregano, basil, chili flakes and garlic and cook for a few more minutes.
Add everything else apart from the pasta and bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Bring back to the boil and add the pasta, Keep stirring as it cooks so the pasta doesn't stick to the base of the pan and cook for 10-15 minutes until the pasta has cooked.
Taste to see if it needs anymore salt and pepper.
Serves 4-6 and is syn free
NOTE: If you want to reheat this soup it tends to go quite thick due to the pasta you can always add a little stock or water to loosen it if you want to.
