Minestrone (Italian Vegetable Soup with Pasta)

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Ingredients: 

  • 1 Lg Can diced tomatoes with Italian Seasoning
  • Small bag frozen carrots or fresh carrots chopped
  • Small Bag diced frozen Potatoes or fresh potatoes chopped
  • 1 Small Bag Frozen Green Beans
  • 2 Large Stalks of Celery (if you don’t want to chop, you can omit “Salting to Taste” and add 2tsp. Celery Salt)
  • Med Zucchini Diced (Some Stores do have Frozen Zucchini but I can be hard to find)
  • 1 small Bag frozen diced onion (or Chop one Large Onion)
  • 3 cloves chopped garlic or 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 6 cups stock (I prefer Chicken but you could also do Veggie or Beef – STOCK, not broth – this is in the soup isle)
  • 1 large can tomato soup (tomato juice can also be sued)
  • 1 Large cans kidney beans and 1 large can Cannellini Beans (any White Bean would work) – Drain before adding  (This is the traditional minestrone but if you hate beans, leave them out – I prefer Bush’s Brand)  
  • 1-2 Bay Leave (Cooking and Seasoning Isle)
  • 1 Cup Pasta (EX: Shells, tubes, bowtie)

 You can really customize this to your liking but taking away or adding any vegetable. You can also add Chicken, Shrimp, Sausage or Beef to make this more like a stew.
 
Add everything to your crock pot except beans, Frozen Potatoes (only if you got Frozen, pre-cooked), Green Beans, Pasta and Zucchini (these items do not take long to cook, reserve them until the end)
 
Everything else goes in your crock pot for 6 hours on Low (8 hours if using primarily Fresh Veggies) or 3-4 Hours on High
 
Once your initial liquids and veggies have cook through, turn your crock pot up to high and add: Pasta, Beans, Zucchini, Green beans, and Potatoes  (if using Frozen pre-cooked) and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until pasta in tender.
 
Salt and Pepper to taste (Taste it first if you have used Celery Salt and Garlic Salt as these will naturally salt your soup)

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