Recipe: Italian Vegetable Soup

A really great friend of mine shared this Italian Vegetable Soup recipe to me the other night and I made it this afternoon with some tweaks. The pepper adds a kick to this delicious recipe. It is really easy to make, good for those cold nights and its quite healthy.

Ingredients:
2 Poblano Peppers, chopped
2 Serano Peppers, chopped
2 Cherry Peppers, chopped
32 oz Vegetable Broth
1 can White Cannellini Beans, drained
2 large tomatoes, diced
2 medium zucchini, sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
a band of green onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 garlic bulb, peeled
2 tbsp. fresh marjoram, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
2 tbsp, fresh basil, chopped
3 Tbsp EVOO or Canola Oil
Juice of a small lemon
Salt and Pepper

Place peppers, green onions, and oil in a food processor, minced. Add marjoram, parsley, rosemary, lemon juice, basil and garlic. Continue mince cycle.
Heat a soup pot, keep the heat on medium or low. Add the mixture to the pan and let it sweat.
Add in tomatoes, zucchini, celery, carrots. Stir to mix the vegetables.
Pour vegetable broth into the pot. Add in the cannellini beans. Increase the heat.
Cover and let it boil. Then decrease heat to simmer. Season with Salt and Pepper.

Enjoy!

Optional: Use some Romano Cheese if you want to add taste and texture. 

Recipe: Vegetable in Plum Sauce

This recipe is for veggie lovers out there. I use four different vegetables in the mix and its easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 Plum tomatoes, diced
Bunch of Kale Greens, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
2 Red Peppers, sliced with seeds remove
6 oz assorted mushrooms
1/2 in of ginger, sliced
Pepper
Canola Oil
4 tbsp Chinese Style 5Spice Plum Sauce

Preparation:
- Heat oil in a wok or a deep saute pan. Add in ginger and saute for one minute.
- Add in tomatoes and peppers, saute for three minutes
- Add in Kale and mushrooms, toss and combine. Cover and cook for five minutes
- Add in plum sauce and pepper, toss for two minutes or until sauce is well distributed
- Serve as is.

You can also serve this with either rice or noodles. Or as a side dish to a poultry dish.

Recipe: Tortellini with Spinach and Tomatoes

This is an easy to make recipe since I used store-brought frozen tortellini and pasta sauce while still incorporating   tomatoes, garlic and onions I got from a farmers market.

Ingredients:
10 oz frozen tortellini
24 oz Pasta Sauce (I used Mushroom with this recipe but you can use plain if you prefer)
1 large Yellow Onion
1 dozen Grape Tomatoes
6 fresh basil leaves
1 large bunch Spinach leaves, cleaned and drained
2 tsp oil

Preparations:
1. Prepare tortellini as instructed in package.
2. Meanwhile, diced onions, slice the grape tomatoes in half and chopped the basil.
3. Drain tortellini when its cooked
4. Heat oil in a pan. Saute onions, basil and tomatoes for 5 minutes.
5. Add in spinach leaves and saute for a one minute. Cover and cooked for two minutes or until the spinach leaves are wilted.
6. Add in the cooked tortellini and saute for a minute
7. Pour in pasta sauce. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
8. Sprinkle with some basil flakes

Tortellini with Spinach and Tomatoes

Variation: if you want to add meat, you can diced bacon or ham and saute it with onions and tomatoes.

Enjoy!