CROCK POT MINESTRONE SOUP

Steps:

• Step 1: Turn crock pot on low. Drain and rinse beans and put into a blender or food processor. Add in 1 cup of broth. Blend well. Add mixture to the crock pot, followed by the remaining broth. Add in basil, parsley, bay leaves, rosemary, parmesan rind, salt, and pepper. Step 2: Next add in your tomatoes. Give it a good stir. Step 3: Chop up your onion, carrots, celery, and mince your garlic. Add oil to the pan and saute veggies until soft. Around 8-10 minutes. Transfer veggies to the crock pot, mix it all together and put the lid on and cook on low 6-8 hours. Forty minutes before you are ready to serve, add in your zucchini and greens (spinach, kale, or swiss chard) Let it cook for 30 minutes. At this time you can also cook your pasta, so it will be ready to serve with the soup. To serve: add 1 yellow container 3/4 full of pasta (preferably whole wheat) to your bowl. (remember you used a can of white beans in this, so don't fill your yellow up completely. The beans will count towards some of your yellow also. Top with 1 Green container of soup. Get lots of good veggies in your container. Add a little broth if needed. Top with Parmesan cheese. Remove the Parmesan rind from the soup (this tastes amazing, but the added calories of eating it do not fit into the plan) This soup is a great way to add in some green containters. It is filled with good veggies. I also don't tend to count broth in my containers. I figure the amount of broth used, fills in the gaps between the veggies in the container. (i used veggie broth) I may be incorrect in this thinking, so if anyone knows the answer to this please let me know. I would count this as follows: 1 Yellow, 1 Green, 1 Blue, and 1 tsp. ** if you were to add in chicken or turkey meatballs, then I would also count it as a 1 Red