Cannellini Minestrone

yum!

I have been SLACKING on my blog postings... and I made this soup when it was really rainy and it was going to be great for people in cold weather like me... but now its beautiful outside and this is irrelevant but I will post it anyways because it was REALLY GOOD. I have had minestrone soup from a can a few times, but never home made or even at a restaurant. This was really yummy and I paired it with a grilled cheese and it made the perfect rainy day meal! oh and once again this was from my Crock Pot Recipe Collection cookbook! 

AND exciting news!! My blog officially has over 1000 views :)

Ingredients:

honestly, I was a bit nervous about all the veggies and kale but it was yummy!

The actual steps are minimal, but there is a lot of chopping which is why I enlisted the help of my little minion clare...

peeling carrots is fun!

Basically all you do is put all the ingredients into the crock pot except the pasta and stir it all up! Cook it on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 4-6 hours. I let this go basically all day on "keep warm" and it turned out fine!

The recipe calls for escarole and I have no idea where you buy this/never have heard of it but thankfully to the wonders of technology I was able to google alternatives while in the grocery store and discovered that kale can be used as well! In the recipe it says to cut it into "ribbons" so i just did long strips??? Not sure if this is correct but I just kinda ate around them. By day 2 they sort of crumbled up and were easier to eat. 

after cooking for many hours!

Once it is done, you add the ditalini pasta and stir, cooking for 20 minutes before serving. Sam and I thought that using only 2 ounces of pasta was too little so we may or may not have thrown in half the box... this made it VERY pasta-y and less soupy because the noodles absorbed the water. Overall this was so good and once again, the leftovers were amazing! 

Sam made her world famous grilled cheese and it was a delectable meal! 

isn't this cute?? thanks Lee Price for sponsoring the flowers :) 

Cannellini Minestrone

Ingredients: 

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (12 ounces) tomato-vegetable juice (um why is this 1) so expensive and 2) not come in individual cans... I had to buy a giant economy sized one since the single v8 cans were like 6 bucks! no thanks.)
• 2 cups escarole, cut into ribbons
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped celery 
• 1 cup chopped potatoes
• 1/4 cup dried cannellini beans, sorted and rinsed (I just bought a can of cannellini beans and threw them in... it was fine)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 ounces uncooked ditalini pasta

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients, except pasta, in 5 quart Crock Pot slow cooker. Stir well to combine. Cover, cook on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 4-6 hours.
2. Add ditalini and stir again. Cover; cook 20 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings