Are you like me and you find yourself with a lot of excess veggies in your crisper at the end of each week? If you’re tired of tossing those vegetable, this is the recipe for you. This Crockpot™ Minestrone Soup is a hands off way to make a great dinner and not let your food budget go to the wastebasket. This IS a two day process. The ingredients in this recipe can change based on what you have on hand, but the delicious outcome is always the same. Here is what you need to do to make this Crockpot™ Minestrone Soup.
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 C of Any Vegetables, Rough Chopped. They do not need to be peeled. For example, the onions can have the peel on. I used onions, carrots, celery, kale, tomato, spinach, red peppers, zuchinni.
- 8 C of Water
- 4 Beef Bouillon Cubes
- 2 C of Canned Crushed Tomatoes
- 2 Cloves of Garlic Crushed
- 1 Can of Beans, I used Chick Peas
- 1 C of Carrots, Diced
- 1 C of Potatoes Diced
- 1 C of Frozen Green Beans
- 1 C of Frozen Corn
- Fresh Herb of Your Choice, I used Lemon Thyme
- 1 Bag of Frozen Mini Chateau Potato Dumplings
- Parmesan Cheese for garnish
I have to add one point. I have the fabulous 5 in 1 Slow Cooker from Crockpot™ which has a sauté setting, so I am able to sauté right in the crockpot. If you do not have this type of crockpot, you can do one of two things. You can skip this step, the soup will still be delicious. The other thing you can do is roast the veggies in the oven for 20 minutes before adding to the crock. The rest of the steps are easy:
Steps
- Set your crockpot to the sauté setting and add some cooking oil. I used Olive Oil.
- Add the 6 to 8 C of random veggies that have been rough chopped.
- Allow them to roast in the crock, tossing them occasionally until you start smelling them.
- Set your crock to low and set to 10 hours.
- Add the 8 C of water and the boullion cubes.
- Let the crockpot go for 10 hours. The longer the better.
- When you have reached the 10 hour mark, place a strainer over a large bowl and strain the broth into the bowl. It should be a deep rich brownish color.
- If you want to make the soup, carry on the next steps. You can also freeze this broth at this point in small batches for future recipes.
- If you are making the soup, add the strained broth back to the crock pot, then add the carrots, potatoes, green beans, beans, canned tomatoes and corn to the crock. You may need to add salt and pepper at this point , taste it and see your preference.
- Allow the soup to cook on low for 8 hours.
- At the 7 hour mark, add the mini dumplings and the fresh herb of your choice.
- Serve in a bowl with parmesan cheese and black pepper.
While this recipe does take two days, it requires VERY little work. Believe me when I tell you it is worth the wait. This soup makes enough for ten servings and can easily be frozen. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
For another great recipe, check out my recipe for Southern Apple Pie Bites.
