VEGETABLE CASSEROLE SOUP

My sister-in-law sent me this recipe that she made for supper one night.  It is a very filling and satisfying soup.  I did a bit of tweaking with some of the quantities of vegetables and my changes are incorporated into the recipe.  I added more fresh tomatoes that what the recipe called for.  I may have added too many tomatoes as I was ambitious about using the tomatoes from the garden.  For the kidney beans, I added a 14 ounce can of beans.  I used rice pasta instead of wheat pasta and didn't add any shredded cheese to my bowl of soup.

Soup just finished cooking in a big pot.

Vegetable Casserole Soup

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth

28 oz canned diced tomatoes or 6-7 fresh tomatoes, chopped           

1 medium onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped           

1 small sweet potato, julienned or chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped           

1 cup sliced cabbage

2 cups baby spinach           

1 cup radiatori or spiral pasta

1 tbsp prepared horseradish           

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (opt)

shredded cheddar cheese (optional)           

1½ cup rinsed, drained red kidney beans

pepper to taste           

water as required to thin soup

DIRECTIONS:

Bring broth, water and tomatoes to boil; add onion, carrot, sweet potato, cabbage and celery.  Cover and cook about 45 minutes.  Add the pasta, bring back to boil and cook another 10 minutes.  Add the horseradish and vinegar, then spinach and kidney beans; bring back to boil and cook about 1 minute or until spinach is wilted.  Add pepper to taste.  Serve with cheddar cheese on top of each bowl.  Serves 6 to 8.  Recipe is adapted from Winter Casserole Soup by Linda Gassenheimer