Every Sunday I face the same challenge: What am I going to take in my lunch this week? I technically have a thirty minute lunch, but usually it’s closer to twenty minutes by the time I make it up to the teachers’ lounge to enjoy a few minutes with my peers. I could eat school lunch, but I’m cheap and want to control the way my food is prepared in regards to fat, salt, and sugars. Or I could buy premade items, but again, the fats, salt, and sugars are out of my control. Often my solution is an all-in-one dish that combines protein, a few carbohydrates, and a healthy dose of vegetables.
My Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup meets those requirements, plus it cooks itself. By the end of the weekend, I know that a yummy, healthy lunch is ready for my hectic week. Every day all I have to do is reheat and add a piece of fruit. I love how my lunchtime just got less complicated thanks to the Minestrone Soup cooking all day on Sunday. 🙂
Those of you who work know the challenges of trying to fit in exercise, eating right, and other outside/kids’ activities into an already busy work schedule. My go-to appliance is the slow cooker. I rely on this at least one or two times a week to get dinner ready. 🙂 I like to think of this little beauty as my live-in chef. Not all recipes are suitable for use in the slow cooker, but broth-based soups, in my opinion, do amazingly well.
Minestrone Soup in the Slow Cooker Recipe…
My Minestrone Soup recipe is an adaptation of my mother-in-law’s minestrone recipe. Her recipe calls for using the stove top. I modified the original recipe by adding more spices, since the slow cooker tends to dull their flavor from long cooking, and increasing the amounts of ingredients. If this is going to feed me all week, I need more than a few cups of soup.
I spend less than thirty minutes chopping all the veggies for this soup and combining them in my 6 qt. Crock-Pot. It’s easy, calming, work. Some people like to color; I like to chop food into small pieces. What does that say about me? 🙂 I do cook the beans the day before and place them in the refrigerator overnight. If you prefer, canned, rinsed, beans will work fine.
To serve Minestrone Soup, I drizzle a little high quality extra virgin olive oil on the top. Since I don’t sauté the veggies before cooking as the stove top recipe requires, this adds a little fat and a nice, fresh bite to the finished soup. A sprinkle of fresh Parmesan cheese along with a piece of hardy bread makes this the perfect healthy meal for those busy days.
Please enjoy Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup as your lunch (or dinner) sometime this week. As the days get shorter and darker, soups help to warm me both inside and out. If you are a fan of easy, slow cooker meals, check out my recipe for chili in the slow cooker or my Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice.
As always, please let me know what you think of my recipes. I’d love to hear from you!
Minestrone Soup in the Slow Cooker
Notes
For a non-vegetarian dish, try adding your favorite meat. Canned, drained, and rinsed beans can be used instead of dried beans. Just add two cans of kidney beans and one can of chickpeas.
Ingredients
- 1/2 c. dried chickpeas
- 1 c. dried red kidney beans
- 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 3 stalks celery, cleaned and chopped
- 1 large onion, diced
- 8 cloves of garlic, minced fine
- 12 oz. frozen french green beans
- 2-3 small zucchini, quartered and sliced
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, undrained
- 4 c. beef broth
- 1 c. water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 T. dried oregano
- 1 T. dried basil
- 1 T. kosher salt
- 2 t. black pepper
- 1 c. small dry pasta, if desired
- extra virgin olive oil and grated Parmesan for serving
Instructions
- Add dried chickpeas and kidney beans to a large saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Boil for 5-10 minutes, then let sit for 2-4 hours. Drain and refrigerate beans for later use.
- Chop all vegetables and add to 6 quart slow cooker with beans, canned tomatoes, broth, water, and spices. Stir in dry pasta, if desired.
- Stir well and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until beans are no longer crunchy.
- Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
Looks yummy! Can’t wait to try this!!