SPINACH AND WHITE BEAN SOUP

Always on the lookout for new soup recipes, I came across a recipe on the internet site 'allrecipes.com' that uses white beans, spinach and couscous.  Since I had a small opened bag of spinach in the fridge that was soon going to have to be used or thrown out, I decided to adapt the recipe and add or change a number of the ingredients.  I always keep a few cans of different kinds of beans in the pantry so I don't need a lot of prep time to make the soup if I had to use dry beans which requires soaking and cooking.   You can add other vegetables to this recipe and make changes according to your preferences and what is in your fridge.

In recent years, spinach has been in the limelight because of its nutritional components and some call spinach a superfood.  Spinach is an excellent source of vitamins A, Bs and K, caroteniods (which help protect artery walls), many minerals and it also contains antioxidants and is rich in chlorophyll.  There are numerous recipes that use spinach that range from dips to soups to salads to pasta to eggs and so forth.

SPINACH AND WHITE BEAN SOUP

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, diced

3 carrots, chopped

6-7 cups chicken broth or water with 2 tsp chicken bouillon

1 large can cannellini or romano beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 bay leaf

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 cup couscous

2 cups packed fresh spinach

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, celery and carrots; saute until tender, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the chicken broth, beans, couscous, zucchini, bay leaf and cumin. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low.  Cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Add the spinach.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serves 8.