Minestrone Soup

This recipe was adapted from one I found on foodnetwork.com.  I love soups, there is something so homey about this one.  I particularly enjoyed this one because 1) its easy, 2) its a crock pot recipe and 3) it made my house smell awesome.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken broth or combination
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15-ounce) can white (cannellini or navy) beans, drained
• 1 cup uncooked lentils (sorted first)
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• 3 bay leaves
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 2 cups cooked pasta (ditalini or other small pasta)
• 1-2 medium zucchini, chopped
• 1-9 oz package chopped frozen spinach, defrosted
• 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (omit for dairy free)

Steps:

1. In a slow cooker, combine broth, tomatoes, beans, lentils, carrots, celery, onion, thyme, sage, bay leaves, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
2. Thirty minutes before the soup is done cooking, add pasta, zucchini and spinach.
3. Cover and cook 30 more minutes. Remove bay leaves and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper.
4. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top (omit for dairy free)

Tip:  I chopped my onion, celery and carrots the night before cooking and placed them in an air tight container in the fridge.  This really expedited the cooking the next morning when my house was filled with the usual morning chaos!

Yield:  The original recipe says 4, but I say more like 6

Storage:  Fridge for close to a week or freezer for 1-2 months.

Timing:  10 months; This is mild and since it is a soup everything is very soft.  When we served it to our 10 month old, we just pulled everything out of the broth.  Assuming each ingredients has been tried individually on your little one, I would say 10 months is plenty old enough to try this.

Difficulty:  2 out of 5; its a dump and go recipe---easy and fast!!

Epicutie Rating:  (see left side of page for descriptions)

• Little Joy:  Somewhat yummy; we are at the fun age where Little Joy likes to exert her will.  She liked it, but did not want to admit she did.  My husband and I LOVED IT.  And when I eat it as leftovers for lunch, Little Joy is always asking for bites.
• Little Asher:  I refuse to comment on his ratings lately.  He is cutting eight teeth and only want purees.  So annoying!!!  I am ready to be DONE with teething!