Vegan Minestrone Soup

So this week was tough for me, I was sick, first a cold then a stomach thing. I find nothing more comforting when I am sick than soup. A nice slow cooked soup fills my home with great smells, when I can actually smell them, and it is not to demanding on preparation. This Minestrone recipe is pretty typical but feel free to add or subtract herbs as desired. Also feel free to experiment with the veggies used, don't like parsnip, use celery, no need for pinto beans if you want to use navy! The recipe below also makes eight servings so cut it down if you want to make less, this will stay good in the refrigerator for up to five days as well, but you might have to add more veggie stock or water when reheating in the microwave. One more thing because I was sick I only took a picture at the end so sorry more blogs with more pictures soon to come because I am feeling better now!

Ingredients:

• 1 quart of crushed tomatos (I can during the summer but if you don't there are 28 ounce cans available at the market)

• 5 cups of vegetable stock, you might need up 1 more cup depending on the moistness of your tomatos

• 3 medium large carrots, diced

• 1 medium large parsnip diced

• 5 mushrooms your choice, I used baby portables

• 1 medium onion diced

• 1/2 cup white cooking wine

• 2 cups pinto beans (I prep from dried but if you are buying canned one can drained is fine)

• 1/2 box pasta (I used Ziti because it was open but any short pasta will work)

• 3 cloves garlic minced

• 1 large sprig fresh rosemary

• 5 sage leaves

• 2 tsp dried thyme

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Heat in a large stock pot the olive oil and add the onion and garlic cook over medium for about five minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the carrots and parsnip cook for another five minutes add the cooking wine, and cook for about another three minutes. Add the vegetable stock, tomatos, herbs and seasonings. Cook for about 45 minutes add the beans and simmer on low, about a half hour before you want to serve add the pasta. When the pasta is cooked its time to eat! Enjoy!

yum!