Italian Vegetable Soup

Published:  02/08/2021

Maria Faires, RD Italian Vegetable Soup

Italian Vegetable soup with freshly grated parmesan.

Secrets of Longevity: Unveiling the Power of Beans and Gut Health

Ever wonder how some communities live remarkably long and healthy lives? Look no further than the Blue Zones, regions where folks routinely reach their 90s and 100s! 

Blue Zone secrets? simple, plant-based habits, including a love for bean-packed minestrone soup.

Here's why this humble soup packs a longevity punch:
1. Bean Power: Blue Zoners eat about half a cup to a cup of beans daily, and with good reason! Beans are loaded with protein, fiber, and key nutrients that support heart health, digestion, and overall well-being.

2. Veggie Variety: Minestrone bursts with colorful vegetables, each offering unique vitamins and antioxidants. Eating 30 different plant foods weekly, like in this soup, can significantly boost your gut microbiome, impacting everything from mood to weight management.

3. Plant-Based Protein Powerhouse: Don't underestimate the plant protein punch! A typical minestrone packs 8 grams per cup, and with more added beans, you can easily reach 20 grams per serving. This plant-based protein, combined with whole grains, ensures a balanced and satisfying meal.

4. Gut Health Hero: Your gut microbiome plays a critical role in overall health. Minestrone's diverse ingredients contribute to a thriving gut, supporting immune function, digestion, and potentially even longevity.

Remember: So, grab a bowl of minestrone, embrace the Blue Zone way of life, and fuel your journey to a long and healthy life!

Bonus tip: Spread your protein intake throughout the day for optimal benefits. Add more beans to the soup for even more protein power, but remember, variety is key!

This is the best tasting soup you can make if you are following a Vegan, Vegetarian or Mediterranean Diet Plan. 

The Vegan, Vegetarian and the Mediterranean diets are dietary patterns emphasize plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts. The Mediterranean diet is most easy to follow long-term because it also includes moderate amounts of fish, poultry, and dairy products, while limiting red meat and sweets. Olive oil is the primary source of fat in this diet.

The Mediterranean diet is healthy due to its emphasis on nutrient-rich plant-based foods, high intake of healthy fats from olive oil, and lower consumption of processed foods, red meat, and sweets, which has been associated with numerous health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.

This healthy soup resembles a vegetable and bean minestrone but without the pasta typically used in a minestrone. But I promise you won't miss the pasta. There is so much flavor and texture from all the diced vegetables, herbs and beans. And for even more flavor, garnish each serving with freshly grated parmesan.

One of the most important ingredients in a minestrone is beans. In this recipe I use canned beans for the convenience. But feel free to prepare dried beans and then use those in the soup. In Italy, for genuine minestrone, the borlotti beans are the beans to use. The borlotti bean is a variety of common bean first bred in Colombia as the Cargamanto bean, which you can buy here on Amazon: cargamanto. It is also known as the cranberry bean that you can buy here on Amazon: buy cranberry beans. 

The vegetables for minestrone should be diced. Dicing is similar to chopping, except dicing is always finely chopped, consistent in size, and neat in appearance. It's the precision of the cut that distinguishes dicing from chopping. My dicing skills (and patience) aren't great so I resort to using this useful vegetable chopper tool that I now can't do without! 

Perfectly diced vegetables using a vegetable chopper

Look how beautiful these vegetables are! Minestrone is historically made with whatever fresh vegetables that an Italian cook happened to have on hand so feel free to experiment with your own vegetables additions. I recently found myself without the celery and zucchini in this recipe. Instead, I chopped some green cabbage and it was delicious.

If you want to reduce the amount of sodium, use reduced-sodium broth and reduced-sodium canned tomatoes and omit the parmesan.

I sometimes will add 5 Costco Meatballs to each bowl. This adds an additional 230 calories, 18 grams of fat, 12 grams of protein and 520 mg sodium.

  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 2 stalks celery, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp dried or 1 Tablespoon dried fresh thyme leaves
  • 1/2 tsp dried or 2 teaspoons fresh chopped sage leaves
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 small zucchini, diced
  • 32 ounces low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 (14/5 ounce) can no salt added diced tomatoes and juice
  • 1 (15 ounce) can low sodium cannellini, black or pinto beans
  • 3 cups chopped baby spinach leaves
  • 1/3 cup grated fresh parmesan, optional

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.

Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, sage, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper, and cook stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender, about 7 minutes. If your vegetables are diced to bigger than a 1/4 inch dice, cook a little longer until the vegetables are tender.

While the vegetables are cooking, in a small bowl mash half of the beans with the back of a spoon, and set aside.

Add the zucchini, broth and tomatoes with the juice and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes.

Add the mashed and whole beans and the spinach leaves and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes more.

Serve topped with Parmesan, if desired. Serves 4

Nutrition Facts
Servings 4.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 265
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 6 g 9 %
Saturated Fat 0 g 2 %
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg 0 %
Sodium 1397 mg 58 %
Potassium 1120 mg 32 %
Total Carbohydrate 36 g 12 %
Dietary Fiber 11 g 46 %
Sugars 11 g  
Protein 15 g 30 %
Vitamin A 119 %
Vitamin C 57 %
Calcium 36 %
Iron 27 %

* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Categories:   COOKBOOK 

Tags:   #recipes

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