Paula Deen's Hearty Vegetable Soup

My new favorite chef is Paula Deen and with me being on a soup kick, while looking through her cooking magazine I came across this veggie soup. And me being me, I of course made some mistakes! :) I forgot to pick up spinach so I just left that out. The recipe called for 1 can (15 oz.) great Northern beans, drained. I picked up a 16 oz. bag of dried Northern beans. Tastes the same but I added the entire bag, when I should have only added about half the bag. So after I made the soup, I had to take out half of the beans just to actually be able to taste the soup. After I did that, the soup tasted great!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 small zucchini, sliced lengthwise and cut crosswise into thin slices
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used pearl onions)
2 cups tightly packed fresh baby spinach
2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano
2 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)
1 (15 oz.) can great Northern beans, drained
1 cup frozen cut green beans, thawed
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt

To pre-soak the beans, heat 4 cups water and beans. Bring to a rapid boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, place a lid on the pan and let cool for 1 hour. Drain.

In a Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add carrots, zucchini, and onion; cook; stirring occasionally, for 5-6 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add spinach, stirring until wilted.

Add diced tomatoes, broth, beans, green beans, pepper and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Pre-soaking the Northern beans..




Raw veggies...




Diced tomatoes, chicken stock and Northern beans..




Veggies cooking in butter...




Everything added to begin simmering..




Less beans!




Enjoy!



**NOTE: I've made this soup again after the first time and instead used one can of Great Northern (or cannellini) beans and the serving size of beans to soup was just perfect!