Minestrone Soup

Kim Galbraith, our former CSA manager is so happy we brought back “the box”!! She was cooking up a storm with her first box from this past week. Here is her take on Minestrone Soup!

Basic recipe:
https://cookieandkate.com/classic-minestrone-soup-recipe/

From the box:  Onion, celery, carrots, cabbage, potato, beet greens
Kim’s notes:  Skipped the beans, added 1/4 of the cabbage and I subbed beet greens for the spinach, used 1 pint of Underwood canned Roma tomatoes from the 2019 September harvest and upped the broth as I prefer more broth, less tomatoes, garnished with some parmesan and chopped parsley.

Additionally, she made her own vegetable broth for the soup!

From the box:  Onion, celery and carrot tops, carrots, a few outside cabbage leaves, kale stalks.

Kim’s notes:  Add any additional produce scraps, I use the pieces I cut off the top and bottom of carrots, onion skins, potato peels, mushrooms make a nice dark broth. The only thing I steer away from is too many greens, I like a nice tan colored broth, but really nothing is off limits!

When I get my box, I prep my produce, by washing it and trimming it. I put the trimmings in a tupperware bowl and I just add to it as I go about my week.

When I’m ready to make a batch of broth, I fill up my instant pot with the veggie scraps just about an inch below the fill line and add water to the fill line.  I add a tablespoon of peppercorns, a few smashed garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, handful of parsley and some Thyme and Oregano from my herb garden.  I set it on manual for 60 minutes and let it naturally release, strain and put in canning jars in the fridge.

I take the solids, remove the bay leaves, peppercorns, spices and chop it up and give to my dog in his food.

We all have to learn to conserve and get our monies worth from our produce – it’s good for us, our animals and the planet.