Delicious Snow Day Minestrone Soup in Clay

Since half of the country is in the middle of a snowstorm, hunkering down with off-school and closed-road snow days, we’re on a soup kick. Even though it’s sunny and warm here in California, we still love soup! (It gets pretty chilly here at night, so soup is always appreciated).

Besides that, it’s a great excuse to consume even more nutrient-dense, gelatin-rich, immune-boosting bone broth! And we could always use that excuse. Minestrone is one of my favorite soups because it has so much going on.

Beans! Noodles! Tons of veggies: corn! Tomatoes! Green beans! Potatoes! And that wonderful broth just brings it all together. The only thing better than the taste of minestrone is how incredibly easy it is to make. It’s also pretty versatile: you can really just throw in any veggies, beans and noodles you have on hand and it always tastes great. 

As a matter of fact, it could easily be called “kitchen sink soup.” Maybe that’s what “minestrone” means in Italian. I love to use as many fresh veggies as I can, so get a bunch of fresh, seasonal veggies and throw them in. If you absolutely need to use something that’s out of season, get frozen instead of canned to avoid BPA exposure.

Ingredients:

• 2 c cooked black beans
• 1 c cooked kidney beans
• 1 c cooked garbanzo beans
• 1 lb green beans
• 3 c broth
• 3-4 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 c organic* corn kernels
• 2 c red potato (diced)
• Any other chopped veggies of choice: carrots, celery, onions, okra, broccoli, cauliflower....
• 1 c salsa
• 1 c pasta (I like this one)

1. Throw everything but the pasta into the clay pot and cook on “soup” for 30 minutes-1 hour
2. Put the pasta in and let it cook an additional 15 minutes for al-dente pasta
3. Garnish with cilantro, sour cream, or parsley
4. Serve with sourdough bread