Vegetable Pasta Soup with Tomato

If you are craving a light and tasty soup that will leave you satisfied, yet not feeling like you overate, this soup fits the bill! Nice healthy ingredients such as potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions are are in this soup and just a little bit of pasta. You can also make it with some lean chicken breast or cuts of beef or even some firm white fish, but today I was wanting a simple vegetarian version.

My mother would regularly make this soup, or a version of it. You can go two ways with it…either tomato based, as this recipe is, or the egg-lemon route (avgolemono soup). You can also interchange either of these versions with rice or orzo or other short cut pasta. Today I’m using mini shells, they are so cute!

You can make a big batch of this but today I made a small batch since it was just me and my daughter and she had an upset stomach, so the perfect light soup to help soothe her tummy, as well, and great for a cold. Clean eating at its best!

You will need:

• 2 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled (any potato really, I just like gold the best)
• 2 carrots, peeled
• 2 ribs celery, strings removed (as many as you can)
• 1 large onion, cleaned and cut in half (leave some of the stem to keep the onion together)
• 2 cups broth (vegetarian, chicken, or beef)
• 1/3 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon chicken or vegetarian bouillon granules/powder
• 1 cup short cut pasta (i.e. mini shells, orzo, elbow)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Steps:

1. Cut cleaned vegetables into large chunks. Halve the potatoes, cut the carrots in thirds, and the celery in quarters, or smaller depending on how long they are. Take the halved onion and cut a slit down the middle from the non-stem side, just makes it easier to cook in the middle.
2. Add the vegetables to a soup pot then add water to about an inch or so above the vegetables. Cover and bring to a boil.
3. After vegetables have boiled for 25-30 minutes check for doneness. If a knife inserts, and comes out, in each of the types of vegetables then remove them into a bowl. If they still aren’t done then let them boil for additional time, checking every 5 minutes for doneness.
4. Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste, to the vegetables while hot and give them a toss, being careful not to break them up. Set aside.
5. In the meantime, add the broth, tomato sauce, and bouillon granules/powder to the vegetable broth created from boiling the veggies and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
6. Once boiling, add in pasta and bring back to a boil and simmer for 10-12 minutes (until the pasta is done).
7. Add some of each of the vegetables to a bowl and top with the simmering pasta and broth.

Kali Orexi!