This recipe is from my lovely friend Mel, who has a pretty good record for cooking tasty and healthy food that the whole family will love (he mediterranean style chicken pie is all kinds of awesome). She brought this fabulous simple minestrone along to lunch a little while ago and it was so yummy I had to get the recipe. She’s given me permission to share it with you 🙂 It is super yummy, really filling and super easy… the perfect combination!
You can change up the ingredients to suit what you have available and it also works perfectly in the slow cooker (4 hours on high, add the beans approximately 1 hour before the end).

- 2 carrots
- 4 sticks celery
- 2 potatoes
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2L good quality vegetable stock
- 1L of tomato based pasta sauce or crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup dry pasta spirals
- 1 packet frozen spinach
- 1 tin 4 bean mix
- Crusty bread rolls to serve
- Chopped parsley to garnish
- Chop carrots, celery, potatoes and garlic
- Dump in a large pot with vegetable stock and tinned tomatoes.
- Bring to a simmer & stir occasionally over half an hour.
- Add pasta and simmer for a further 15 mins or according to the length of time suggested on the pasta packet.
- Thaw spinach for 2 mins in the microwave, add to pot, stir for 2 min
- Add 4 Bean Mix and heat through.
- Season with salt & pepper.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.
- Enjoy with a crusty bread roll.
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