Tortelloni Minestrone Soup

Tortellini Minestrone Soup….sort of

I’ve really been craving some soup lately. Sadly, I missed the soup weather that disappeared at the beginning of this week. It’s still fairly cool in the morning, though, so that will just have to suffice. I also have been feeling like I need some more vegetables in my diet, hence the inspiration for making this soup. I really like making soup because it’s very simple, it doesn’t need to be precise, and you can customize it anyway you want it. It’s pretty hard to ruin soup.
Tortellini Minestrone Soup
Ingredients

• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1-2 clove(s) minced garlic
• 1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas  
• 1 package frozen (Italian) vegetables (you can use any sort of mixed veggies you want or be super cool and chop up fresh ingredients…which will take some more effort)
• 1 can tomatoes
• 5 cups vegetable broth (I just use vegetable bouillon cubes)
• 1-2 cups tortellini (you can use any kind of pasta you want, though)
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Chop up the zucchini, yellow squash, onion and garlic. Add 1-2 tablespoons oil to a large pot and toss in the zucchini, yellow squash, onion and garlic. Let that soften up for around 5 minutes.

2. Add the vegetable broth, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and frozen vegetables. Add in the basil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil then let simmer for 20 minutes. About half way through add the tortellini. If you use a different pasta you may need to adjust for how long it takes to cook or, alternatively, cook it prior to adding it to the soup towards the end of the 20 minutes. And that’s it!


I promise it looks more appealing in real life. I have a combination of a simple camera and poor lighting.
Wasn’t that simple? And you can customize it with any vegetables or seasonings you want (Translation: Whatever you happen to have lying around that you want to use up)
Happy almost weekend!