Fast, fresh and healthy minestrone soup

Welcome to another ‘Fast and fresh Friday’ courtesy of Kyrstie’s blog link – the rules being that the dish you prepare needs to be on the table in 30 minutes or less.   This one took a little bit longer, but not much and thought it was worth sharing – it’s a far cry from the gluggy carb laden minestrones of old.    The funny thing is that although I created this recipe several years ago, I had to ask my mother for a copy of the recipe!

You will need

• 5 rashers short cut bacon, fat trimmed and diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup of green beans, chopped
• 1 tin tomatoes, diced (400g)
• 1 tin cannellini beans, rinsed
• 2 carrots, chopped or diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 6 cups beef stock (or use a few beef stock sachets as I did)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup risoni pasta

Method:

Cook onion and garlic until fragrant in non stick pan or use a little olive oil.   Then add other ingredients except for pasta and simmer until vegetables are al dente.  Add the pasta and cook another ten minutes.  Add cracked black pepper and parmesan cheese to serve.   Tastes even better if you leave it for a day so the flavours can mate

Nutrition wise – it serves six (large) and energy wise is approximately 135 calories per bowl 1.2g fat, 9g protein and 20g of carb.   It makes a perfect post workout snack with its particular ratios of protein to carbohydrate.

Do you enjoy a good minestrone soup?