Garden Minestrone

This soup makes enough to feed a crowd!

Heat two teaspoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add one cup chopped onion and saute 2 minutes. Add 4 minced garlic cloves and 1/2 tsp. dried oregano (or use 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano) and cook another minute. Stir in 3 cups chopped yellow squash, 3 cups chopped zucchini, one cup chopped carrot, and one cup of corn kernels (fresh or frozen - I used the latter), and cook for five minutes. Remove from heat.

In a blender, combine 3 cups chopped tomato with 14-oz of vegetable broth. Puree until smooth, and pour into the pan with the vegetables. Add an additional 28-oz of vegetable broth and another cup of chopped tomato to the pot; now bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup uncooked ditalini pasta (if you can't find ditalini in an organic, non-enriched variety, try small elbow pasta; I used the small elbows from the 365 organic brand), along with one 15-oz can of Great Northern beans (rinsed and drained). Cook for ten minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in a 6-oz package of fresh spinach, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper.

Ladle a cup and a half of soup into each of 8 bowls. The original recipe said to top with Asiago cheese, which is similar to Parmesan. Normally, I'd shred the vegan mozzarella block from Galaxy Foods as a stand-in, but soy cheese was harder to come by here in Laguna Beach. Instead I diced up four slices of the Rice Vegan American sandwich slices (also from Galaxy Foods) to equal about a cup of small "shreds". Top each bowl of soup with 2 tablespoons of the 'cheese'. Garnish with more fresh ground black pepper if you like. Each bowl of soup is 220 calories.

Cost:
onion $1.08
oregano $3.39
garlic $1.54
yellow squash $5.11 (I had to buy pattypan squash, because all the yellow squash had gone bad - hence the higher cost here).
zucchini $2.09
carrot $0.85
corn $2.19
tomato $2.00
vegetable broth $5.18
elbow pasta $1.49
great northern beans $1.39
6-oz spinach $3.69
vegan cheese $3.99