Let's Talk Dinners: Minestrone Soup

OK, Before  you go all, "Carb Alert!" on me - please note, I do not use pasta in my Minestrone Soup. ;) Perhaps I should just call it Vegetable Soup, but I do still think it maintains the essence of Minestrone, so I'll stick with that.

This is about the easiest throw-together soup you could ask for. Well, maybe next to the Curry Stew we'll talk about tomorrow... It is low in calories, and a perfect pairing with a scoop of quinoa. Enjoy.

Minestrone Soup
Makes 14 cups... A 2-cup serving is only 183 calories

Ingredients:
- 1 can (1 1/2 cups) kidney beans
- 1 can (1 1/2 cups) garbanzo beans (chick peas)
- 1 can (1 1/2 cups) green beans (if using fresh, be sure to include with the first batch of veggies)
- 1 can (1 1/2 cups) diced tomatoes
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 1 cup zucchini, halved and sliced
- 1 cup carrots, cubed
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions:
- Warm olive oil in bottom of stock pot
- Add all raw veggies and sauté until starting to soften
- Dump the rest of the ingredients in the pot and bring to a boil
- Simmer until you are ready to eat

NOTES:
- So simple!
- I have learned that  the step of sautéing the raw veggies adds a nicer flavor than just dumping them in raw to boil with everything else.
- I've also added spinach or kale to this and found it quite good.
- If you don't have the exact ingredients on hand, don't fret and get cooking anyway. Most of the time I make this I'm shy one or two ingredients. No biggie.
- A half-cup scoop of cooked quinoa for 110 calories is a great addition to a bowl of this soup and takes your meal to right around 300 calories, which is great for weight loss.
- Keeps and re-heats really well.

This is last week's soup with kale added. 

(And my favorite condiment to add to it!)

(Quinoa added before mixing it in...)