Italian Minestrone Soup Recipe

Ingredients
-1 small onion diced
-4 cloves of garlic
-1/2 cup of sliced carrots
-1 can of cut tomatoes
-1/2 of chopped celery stalk
-1/2 of a chopped zucchini
-2 cans of white beans
- 2 cans of kidney beans
-1/2 cup of pasta
-2 tablespoons of parsley
-3 cups of spinach
-2 teaspoons of oregano (dried)
-1 teaspoon of basil (dried)
-2 teaspoons of salt
-1 teaspoon of pepper
-4 cups of broth (preferably vegetable)
-3 tablespoons of olive oil
-3 cups of hot water

Directions
1. Heat three tablespoons of olive oil
2. Cook the onion, celery, garlic, and zucchini in the oil for 5 minutes
3. Add broth, and then drain the tomatoes, beans, carrot, hot water, and spices.
4. Boil soup and then let cook for 20 minutes.
5. Add spinach leaves and pasta and cook once again for another 20 minutes
6. Makes about 6 normal sized bowl servings

About the Recipe
The recipe is in fact a recipe from my grandmother on my father’s side of the family who is Italian from Bari. I actually went to her house this past weekend and she explained to me all of the procedures on how to make this healthy and delicious recipe.
The recipe was not hard to prepare, however, I am not much of a cook, which is why I needed help from my Nona in making the soup that I shared with her and the rest of my family.
I was proud of myself in making this recipe for two reasons: I realized upon myself that I am not that bad of a cook as I thought I was, and that it is possible to have a delectable meal without the use of meat.
This recipe is healthy and great for the environment because it does not cause any harm to the planet, reason that it is nothing but vegetables, broth, and pasta and evidently, it has no meat which makes it have no harm whatsoever to the planet.
Most of the ingredients can be found at a local supermarket and some of the vegetables come from my Nona’s garden. It was great timing because fall is coming along and her vegetables will start vanishing soon.