Minestrone - Marcella

Very quick and easy; eliminates any need to buy the canned variety. I usually make it without any pasta, but in this case I had a mini-box of kamut ditalini, so I used that.

Minestrone Soup

• cooking spray or 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I used 1 Rapunzel cube dissolved in 4 cups water)
• 1 can low-sodium diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 can cannellini beans,WITH liquid
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained
• 1/2 lb fresh green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• pepper

 In a medium pot, heat oil or cooking spray. Add onions and garlic and saute about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

I use the canning liquid from the cannellini beans in this case because it imparts some nice viscosity to the soup broth. This is also why there's no salt added.