Soup Supper and Aftermath

It is Lent. Our Church has 5 Soup Suppers on the 5 Wednesdays preceding Palm Sunday, which will be this coming Sunday. Then the whole thing starts. Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and EASTER! So anyway, Pedro y Yo had the Soup Supper tonight. Well, of course Peter made two soups and made them well and made them from scratch. We had a huge crockpot of Minestrone Soup which was the mainstay and he also made a Tortillini Soup which was super delicious. I guess the Tortillini is a Family Secret because I can't find his recipe----but I will search and as soon as I find it, I will post it. (It has chicken boiled from scratch in it!)

Here is Minestrone for 15-20 personas.
(He actually combined a couple or recipes, so feel free to make up your own recipe.

This doesn't look easy folks, but it really is---just lots of ingredients, but not hard---believe me.

8 tbsp butter
2 onions chopped
64 ounces cans of chicken broth
4 -15 ounces cans mixed vegetables, with liquid
16 ounce frozen spinach
2 large cans whole peeled tomatoes (about 30 ounces mas o menos)
32 ounces kidney beans, with liquid
2 tbsp tomato paste
4-5 peas garlic powder
4 teasp dried parsley
1/2 teasp salt
1 teasp ground pepper
1 teasp dried basil
1 cup garbanzo beans drained
4 cups heavy cream
1/2 c cup grated Parmesan cheese.

P.S Some recipes call for cabbage (1/2 cup) , and cannelinni beans (19 ounces)

Then later 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni

Well, my opinion of this recipe is that you can add whatever you want! Make it your own... Don't be bound by the restrictions of the recipe. Whatever you have on hand, as was obviously the intent of the originators of this recipe, way back in Italy, eons ago. I think the basics are the chicken broth and the tomatoes. After that you are on your own. Well, Onions and garlic are staples, but the rest? Go for it. The Macaroni is what makes it Minestrone.

I just say, add enough liquid to make it soup or stew, whatever you are looking for. (So I asked Pedro to add more broth, which he did.)

Mi esposo, he likes to put grated Parmesan over the top. It's good both ways--plain or with cheese.

Oh, the preparation. Well, it's kind of explanatory, but, here goes...........

In a large pot stir and cook onions in butter until soft. Add broth, mixed veggies, kidney beans, tomatoes, spinach and tomato paste and---- actually add everything.

Mi esposo, he puts all the ingredients into a crockpot and then I TAKE IT OUT OF THE REFIGERATOR AND AND HOOK UP THE CROCKPOT TO COOK IT, IN THE MORNIN' (OR ANYBODY (in joke)). I just wanted to let you all know that I do a very important part of the process. I see that it gets COOKED! Ahem.

So go cook up a pot of Minestrone! Save the leftovers--this soup just gets better!

kmgmom