Olive Garden Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 1 cup carrots, diced
- 1 cup yellow onion, diced
- 2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried
- 2 tsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
- 3/4 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 1/3 cups zucchini, diced
- 1 1/3 cups shell pasta
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 15-ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-ounce can white navy beans or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 14.5-ounce can Italian green beans, drained
- 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
- Finely shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese, for serving
Instructions
- In a 6 or 7-quart crock pot, add vegetable stock, water, tomatoes, celery, carrots, onion, parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and sugar.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook on low heat 6 – 8 hours or high 3 – 4 hours.
- Add in zucchini, pasta, garlic, kidney beans and white beans.
- Cook, on high heat, an additional 30 – 40 minutes until pasta is tender.
- Stir in spinach and Italian green beans.
- Cook several minutes until heated through.
- Stir in more vegetable broth or water to thin, if desired.
- Serve warm topped with Romano or Parmesan cheese.