My husband and I are lowering our intake of starch and simple carbohydrates. Well, bread, mostly. This is a true hardship for me as I dearly love bread. I adore it. Sourdough, focaccia, whole-grain, oatmeal…I love to bake it, smell it, look at it. I love it for breakfast, toasted with peanut butter. I love a slice before bed, with honey. I love to pull the hot crusts off a fresh homemade French loaf and slather it with butter and…  you get the drift.

My aim in this wretched soul-sucking endeavour is to get my cholesterol levels down into, well, survivable levels. That means get rid of the belly fat and <huge sigh> for me at least, that means no bread. And without giving anything else up, I’m down a few pounds, so I guess it’s working.

However there are many, many foods that I love that are not bread, and this is what I’m focusing on. I enjoy vegetables and I love soup (though soup is best with – you guessed it – bread!) but vegetable-only soup usually leaves me feeling like something’s missing. Like sausage or chicken or a whole whack of pasta. Recently, my husband had a craving for Olive Garden’s minestrone soup, so I looked up the recipe and figured I’d give it a try, not expecting much.

Holy macaroni, was I ever wrong! Chock-full of vegetables and beans (good carbs!) with only a wee handful of pasta, this fulfills my veggie count for the day, satisfies my appetite completely and is totally delicious. And it’s completely vegetarian, broth and all! I followed the recipe almost exactly. (Hm. Note to self: I might be onto something here.)

Here’s the recipe, with full credit to Olive Garden’s Chef Pablo: 
Ingredients:
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small minced white onion
  • ½ cup chopped zucchini
  • ½ cup Italian green beans
  • ½ stalk minced celery
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cans (15 oz) red kidney beans, drained
  • 2 cans (15 oz) great northern or small white beans, drained
  • 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
  • ½ cup shredded carrot
  • 2 tablespoons minced parsley
  • 1½ teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon dried basil
  • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
  • 3 cups hot water
  • 4 cups fresh baby spinach
  • ½ cup small shell pasta
Instructions
  1. Measure olive oil into a large stock pot and heat on medium.
  2. Put the onion, celery, garlic, green beans, and zucchini into the pot and saute for about 5 minutes or until the onions become translucent.
  3. Add the vegetable broth, drained tomatoes, beans, carrots, hot water and spices to the pot.
  4. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.
  5. Add the spinach leaves and the pasta and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

Love Notes from the Lake

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