minestrone soup

This soup is really easy and cheap to make, great for Autumn/Winter dinners when you want something warm and filling! Feel free to sub the veggies for whatever needs used in your fridge, you can also sub the beans to another variety (think chickpeas/cannellini beans) and use cabbage/spinach instead of kale ♥ 

I used a food processor to chop up the ingredients - saved SO MUCH TIME.

This recipe will make enough for about 6 - 8 big bowls of soup.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, grated
• 5 carrots, finely chopped
• 5 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 5 baby potatoes, diced
• 2 tbsp of dried italian herbs (or ground basil/oregano - whatever you have!)
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 5 tbsp tomato puree 
• 1.5 litres vegetable stock
• 150g wholewheat spaghetti, broken into halves
• 1 tin of butter beans
• Handful of curly kale
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Vegan pesto for serving (optional) 

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, carrot and celery and allow to soften for around 5 minutes over medium heat. Add potato and garlic and continue to fry for further five minutes. Stir in the herbs, tomato puree, chopped tomatoes and stock. Stir well and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and cover then allow to simmer for half an hour. After half an hour, add spaghetti and broad beans. Allow to simmer for a further 10 minutes. Add kale and allow to simmer for another 2 minutes. Season to your taste. 

Serve with a spoonful of pesto on top. Enjoy!