Ravioli Minestrone

This is another new recipe I've adapted from a Taste of Home recipe. My version uses carrots and green beans as vegetables, but you can throw in whatever veggies you want (I think zucchini, corn, and cabbage would all work perfectly). Total time was about 25 minutes, but I did use a lot of canned and frozen ingredients as shortcuts. I portioned this at 3 HUGE servings, but if you were eating something else with it (a salad, for example) you could easily get 4 servings out of this!

Yield: 3 giant bowls, enough for an entrée portion.


Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups frozen bell pepper mix, thawed and diced

1/2 cup diced onion (NOTE: If you can find the onion and bell pepper mix at the store, that will work too. just use 2 cups of that.)

1/4 teaspoon crushed crushed red pepper, or to taste (I used a packet from the last time I ordered a pizza and it was the perfect amount.)

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, fire-roasted if available

1 15 oz can vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups hot water

1 tsp dried basil

1 15 oz can sliced carrots, drained

1 15 oz can cut green beans, drained

6 to 9 oz fresh or frozen cheese (or meat) ravioli

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. 
2. Add peppers and onions and crushed red pepper (if using) and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. You can also add some minced garlic (about 2 cloves) here if you'd like, I'm not a big garlic fan so I chose not to add it. 
3. Add tomatoes, broth, water, and basil; bring to a rolling boil over high heat. 
4. Add ravioli and cook for 3 minutes less than the package directions. 
5. Add carrots and green beans; return to a boil. Cook until the vegetables are tender if using fresh, or about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

I love it! A note on the ravioli - I used a small sized ravioli in the freezer section, Rosetto's brand. I chose this because each serving size is 13 ravioli, and I used 33 ravioli in the soup (so I could have 11 ravioli in each bowl). Portion the ravioli based on how the soup will be eaten (an appetizer, a side course, or the main course).