Homemade Minestrone Soup

Inspired by the recent cover of All You magazine and our first cold and snowy day, I decided to try and make homemade minestrone soup.  I’m also trying to get back on board with freezer cooking.  We’ve had a lot of nights of “free for all” recently. 

For my recipe, I used the following:

8 cups of chicken broth

3 carrots, finely sliced

3 stalks of celery, finely sliced

2 cans of Italian-style stewed tomatoes

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

Italian seasoning to taste

2 cans cannellini beans

Kale

1 cup of pasta for now, 1 cup for later.

I put the broth, carrots, celery, tomatoes, paste and Italian seasoning in the crockpot on high for 6 hours.  I then added the two cans of cannellini beans.  I then pulled out half of the mixture to freeze for later.  Add the kale and the pasta to the crockpot mixture and reduce the heat to low.  Cook for approx. 20 minutes or until the pasta is soft.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add your kale to your freezer portion.  Cool and store in a freezer Ziploc bag.

I like to put mine on a cookie sheet in the freezer in case of any leaking.  To prepare your freezer portion, take the bag out of the freezer the night before.  Once defrosted, place into a large pot.  Add 1 cup of pasta and cook until soup is warm and pasta is soft.  I always like to have extra chicken broth on hand in case you need a little more broth for your soup.

 

Thanks for stopping by!