Minestrone Soup

Soup season seems to last longer than we'd like to admit.  But, yes, it's still soup season.  We're having spring fever around here and, yes, the weather is getting warmer, sunnier, and overall just very nice and pleasant outside.  But I'm still craving the warmth of a hot soup.  We had this minestrone soup recently and everyone loved it.  My sister made it at her house but she's not sure where she got the recipe so I'll just give her all the credit. Her preparation of this dinner was a job well done!

She and her husband live in Washington D.C. and they were also having spring-like weather but a dinner of hot soup still tasted really good to all of us. 

We planned this trip to see Nick who spent a week there for work.  We jumped at the opportunity to go see him since it's a lot closer than going to Spain.   Plus, my sister lives there and she and her husband are a lot of fun and it's so nice to get caught up with each other's lives. 

We saw Nick four times between all his work meetings so we had lots of time to get caught up with his work and family life.  Plus, we had a good visit with my sister and her husband who gave us tours of their neighborhood which we've never done before because we're always doing tourst-y stuff when we go there.  But this time, we felt more like sticking closer to home. We did do some tourist-y stuff like visit the Portrait Museum and the Air & Space Museum before meeting Nick for dinner on a couple of days and we both enjoyed those a lot. 

Walking the mall is always fun to do, too. 

My sister's husband gave us a tour of Hillwood Estate which is where Marjorie Post lived; the heiress, socialite, philanthropist and daughter of C.W. Post of Post cereal.  Now, it's a museum with beautiful gardens. 

This is walking distance from their house and we had a lovely stroll there and ate lunch in the delightful cafe on the grounds. Here we are walking while my brother-in-law talks to my niece in London where she lives and I wrote about here.  We aren't the only ones in my family who have a child who lives abroad.  (I guess you could say we have adventurous children...)

Another day, he gave us a similar walking tour of historical homes in their neighborhood of Cleveland Park. 

That was also fun since I love looking at houses, especially when there is so much history involve.  If you love history, Washington D.C. is definitely the place to be! 

We are home now and I'm back to all my favorite meals that I like to eat after a trip like my roast chicken with cabbage that we had on Sunday and my ham and lima beans that I made in the crockpot on Monday.  It's always such a comfort to eat some good old home-cooked favorites after a trip.  Maybe I'll add this new minestrone soup recipe to my list of "welcome home" dinners.

Serves 4-6

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 medium carrots, chopped

2 celery ribs, thinly sliced

1 tsp. seas salt, plus more to taste

freshly ground black pepper

3 cloves garlic, grated

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1-1/2 cups white beans, drained and rinsed 

1 cup chopped green beans

4 cups vegetable broth 

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

3/4 cup small pasta, elbow, shells, or orecchiette

Optional for serving: 

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

pinches of red pepper flakes

grated parmesan cheese 

1.  Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onions, carrots, celery, salt, and several  

grinds of black pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften. 

2.  Add the  garlic, tomatoes, beans, green beans, broth, bay leaves, oregano, and thyme.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

3.  Stir in the pasta and cook, uncovered, for 5-10 more minutes, until the pasta is al dente. 

4.  Season to taste and serve with parsley, red pepper flakes, and parmesan cheese, if desired.