Quick Fall Minestrone

I love to make soup and I don't make it as often as I would like. My husband and I like to eat at least one mainly vegetable meal a week. So, as I was perusing my cookbooks, I found this Quick Fall Minestrone. (It was in my Cooking through the Seasons cookbook by Cooking Light.) It sounded good...I've "discovered" butternut squash this year - never had it before this year - and I really like it. And we love kale. Therefore, this was a good match for us to try.

Of course, even though I wrote out my shopping list while looking at the recipe, I forgot a few ingredients. I did not have the cannellini beans nor did I have enough vegetable broth. Actually, I used vegetable stock and I substituted 2 cups of the vegetable stock with chicken broth...that's what I had on hand. (I should have looked at the carton of vegetable stock to see how much was in it before I bought only one. Who knew it wouldn't be enough? Then again, I should have checked the recipe to see how much I needed before I went to the store. Oh well, you cook, you learn!) I did not substitute anything for the beans. I'm not a big fan of beans - except green - so, I didn't mind the omission.

This recipe was easy to make...the hardest part - well, not hard at all, maybe time consuming - was cutting the vegetables. But I enjoy wielding a knife and cutting food up. So, no big deal at all. And it smelled fantastic while it was cooking.


Did I enjoy it? Yes, I did. It was sweet and had that warm, cozy feel to it.


Would I recommend it? Yes, I would recommend it. It is a great fall, early winter meal that doesn't take much time at all to make.

Will I make it again? Yes, I will. However, it needs more salt and possibly more oregano. You could add more broth....but I like the veggies to stand out and not be drowning in the broth. However, an extra half a cup to a cup of broth would be okay. I may try that next time. Or I may add the extra broth to the leftovers when I heat them up the next day. But overall....YUM!

UPDATE! The leftovers definitely need extra broth!! But the leftovers were quite yummy once I added some broth to it. I used chicken broth as that was all I had on hand.