[RECIPE] Slimming World Minestrone Soup

I found a hint of a recipe for minestrone soup on the Slimming World website which sounded really easy to pull together. I gave it a shot, tweaked a few of the ingredients and it makes a great lunch or a perfect accompaniment to a salad.

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 30 minutes

Serves : 6 large servings

Cost Per Serving : 60 pence

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized onions
• 2 large carrots
• 3 sticks of celery
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed) or 2 teaspoons of garlic granules  
• 2 vegetable stock cubes dissolved in 1.5 pints of boiling water
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 3 handfuls of pasta (conchiglie or fusilli works best)
• 2 tins of cannellini beans (drained)
• 10 slices of chopped cooked ham (leave this out if you want a totally vegetarian version) 

Method

1. Slice the onions, dice the carrots and chop the celery.  Place them in a large pan with the garlic, vegetable stock and chopped tomatoes
2. Bring to the boil and then simmer with a lid on the pan for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally
3. Add the drained cannellini beans, pasta and ham
4. Bring back to the boil and then simmer again for about 10 minutes, again with a lid on the pan, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender
5. Serve and enjoy

Let me know if you try this and if you'd suggest any changes.

Note:  If you are following the Slimming World Extra Easy plan then this falls completely in the Super Free and Free food section.  Onions, carrots and celery are super-free foods.  Chopped tomatoes (tinned), cannellini beans (tinned and drained), ham and pasta are all free foods.

Costing: Almost all of these ingredients are fridge or store cupboard staples however the costing was worked out (using store's own brands and fresh produce) as follows:

Ingredients	Cost (£)
Onion x 2	0.15
Carrots (300g)	0.23
Celery	0.40
Garlic (2 cloves)	0.08
Stock Cubes x 2	0.07
Chopped Tomatoes x 2 tins	0.62
Cannellini Beans x 2 tins	1.24
Pasta (1/3 of a bag)	0.40
Cooked Ham	0.40
Total	3.59
Total Per Serving	0.60