For the second dish, Jean made a Minestrone Soup. Jean specifically made this dish for Tanni who had requested to learn how to make Italian dishes.

Minestrone is an Italian soup made with fresh seasonal vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice and beans which make it into a complete meal by itself. Minestrone soup is also known as the poorer people’s cuisine in Italy. It is very filing and cheap to make and yet nutritious.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 fresh tomato, diced
• 4 or 5 bunches of baby bok choy, chopped
• 1 28oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1 15.5oz can beans (Jean used white kidney beans)
• 1/2 cup long grain rice
• 2 cups tomato juice
• 4 or 5 cups water
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
• 1 teaspoon summer savory leaves
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• salt to taste

There is lots of slicing and dicing to do but with so many helping hands in the cooking club, its done in a jiffy.

Click on the link below for the instructions.

Instructions

Place onion, garlic, celery and carrot in a large soup pot with about 1/2 cup water. Cook, stirring, over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add remaining water and bring it to a boil.

Add tomato juice and can chopped tomatoes.

Drain and rinse the beans before adding into the soup pot.

Add the potatoes and rice. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 35 minutes.

Add the zucchini.

Add all the herbs.

Add the baby bok choy and cover and simmer for another 20 minutes.

Lastly, add the fresh diced tomatoes to give the soup more texture. Season with salt if desired.

This is a very healthy soup as it does not contain any oil and have all the nutritious from the vegetables and beans. Great for a cold winter day.