Every week I try to make a healthy lunch that will last me for the week. I love not having to put something together every single night… and I feel much better about taking something homemade rather than store-bought (although sometimes in a pinch that stuff is awesome!). Soups make a great lunch. Usually they taste even better after sitting for a couple of days as it allows the flavors to meld together. This vegetable soup is a delicious, healthy, and very customizable recipe that made for an awesome lunch. You can use pretty much any vegetable you have on hand, mix and match depending on your own personal preferences, use up frozen vegetables from the freezer, and little bits of leftover pasta. This was a great recipe to use in my quest to clean out my fridge/freezer/pantry. I had an open bag of frozen peas that I threw into this, a bit of Israeli couscous, some red potatoes that were on their last hurrah, a can of cannellini beans that has been in my pantry forever, and all I had to buy was some zucchini, vegetable stock and green beans. You can throw in some diced sweet potatoes, fresh tomatoes instead of canned, yellow squash, spinach, leeks instead of onions… the sky’s the limit.
Summer Vegetable Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, quartered and sliced thin
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (or more, if desired to make the soup broth-ier)
1-2 small zucchinis, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
1 (15-oz) can cannellini beans (or Navy beans)
5 small red potatoes, diced
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 cup corn (fresh or frozen)- I omitted this because I didn’t have any
1 cup green beans (fresh or frozen), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/8 tsp tumeric
2-4 ounces Israeli couscous (or other small pasta shape), optional
2 Tbsp tomato paste
Directions:
1. Place a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and saute for 3-4 minutes, until softened.
2. Add the vegetable broth, zucchini, beans, potatoes, peas, corn, green beans, diced tomatoes and juice, salt, pepper, and tumeric. Bring to a boil, and then lower heat to a simmer, cover, and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. If you are using pasta, add when there is about 10-15 minutes left of cooking time.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the tomato paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Source: barely adapted from Prevention RD (originally adapted from food.com)
Filed under: beans, Corn, Green Beans, Main Dish, Pasta, Potatoes, Soup, Soups Stews and Chilis, Tomatoes, Vegan, Zucchini Tagged: beans, canned tomatoes, cannellini beans, corn, green beans, israeli Couscous, olive oil, Onions, pasta, peas, Potatoes, red potatoes, Soup, tomato paste, tumeric, vegetable broth, Vegetable soup, zucchini
