Aunt B's Minestrone Soup

Wow! It has been over two years since my last post. Let's see--since January 2011, I got married, I now live in Iowa, and I'm enjoying this lovely Fall weather! Marriage has a great perk--getting to share your food experiences with someone. I definitely enjoy experimenting with new ingredients, recipes, etc., because A can enjoy (or hate the stuff, depending on how the recipe turns out!) the recipes with me.

This is a Minestrone Soup recipe from A's aunt. We got this part of a wedding-shower gift--a recipe book with lots of foods A's side of the family enjoys. This is a perfect recipe for a cold fall evening. A likes to "chew" her soup, so this is great, because it has lots of veggies!

I'm a strong believer in the fact that just because you have a DSLR, it does not mean you're a photographer. But I figured I should learn how to do some food photography as well. I enjoy cooking very much, and this could be another additional fun thing to do!

Another note: whenever I look for cookbooks, I find that they are inadequate in one aspect or another. For example, they have great pictures, but the recipes aren't well laid out. Otherwise, they have ingredients, but they don't have nutritional values, nor do they have any "time-frame" in which I can cook the food. I don't have time for this. I want to figure out how long the food will take, and what kind of nutritional values it has. So my solution? Make my own cookbook/blog about food! I found a nifty web site where you can make your own food labels. I added all the values from the ingredients and came up with this. It's totally an estimate, but hope it helps!

Here are all the ingredients laid out.

I used buffalo for this recipe, because I do not eat beef. But you can easily replace this with another ground meat, or boca bits, if you desire.

I first browned the meat with some garlic and onions. 

I would add the spices--salt, pepper, thyme, and basil to this mixture right away so that the food cooks with the aroma of the spices. After the meat has browned, I add all the ingredients into the pot and let it come to a boil. After that, I would lower the heat to low and simmer for an hour.

Here's the final product! Enjoy with garlic bread or breadsticks.

Aunt B's Minestrone Soup

Prep-time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Nutritional Facts (See on right)

Ingredients

• Protein

• 1 lb. of ground meat -- I used bison, which is lean and a delicious substitute for beef.
• Carbohydrates
• 1/4 cup uncooked rice
• Veggies
• 1 cup onions, diced
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup potato, diced
• 2-3 medium sized carrots, diced
• 1 cup cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1 can 14-16 oz diced tomatoes
• 1 can Campbell's® tomato soup
• Spices (all dry)
• 1-2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1 bay leaf
• Other
• 1.5 quarts of water

Directions

1. Brown the meat in a dutch oven, or a deep pan with onion and the garlic.
2. Add rest of the ingredients and bring to boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for about an hour.
4. Serve in bowls, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.
5. Serve with thick slices of Italian bread or breadsticks.

Hope you enjoy this as much as A and I do!