Tuscan Vegetable Soup

One day earlier this week, Lucy and I opted to stay at home instead of fight the rain so I settled in to make Vegetable Soup and homemade bread for supper. Soup and Bread makes one of the BEST meals ever and I am always looking for more great soup recipes. This one will definitely go in the "recipe notebook."
I'm including a link to the original recipe in case you want to compare, since I made several changes based on our tastes. Let me know if you try it and like it!

Tuscan Vegetable Soup
(adapted from Ellie Krieger)

1- 15 oz. can canellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbs. Olive Oil
1/2 Large onion, diced
4 carrots, sliced
Sliced Mushrooms (How ever many you want, I had four leftover so I threw em in!)
One small box of frozen lima beans, drained and thawed partially
2 cups shredded Zucchini (She said to use one small diced zucchini, but I had shredded in the freezer.)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp salt (I didn't use quite this much, I just did it to taste. a pinch at the beginning and a pinch at the end)
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
32 ounces low sodium Chicken Broth (Or Vegetable!)
1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatoes with the juice
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
1/3 cup grated parmesan (for garnish-- don't leave this part out-- it's so good!)

In a small bowl, mash half of the cannellini beans with the back of a spoon, set aside.

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over med-high heat. Add onion, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, garlic, thyme, sage, a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender, about 5-9 minutes.

Add the broth, tomatoes and lima beans and bring to a boil. Add the mashed and whole white beans and the spinach and cook 3-5 minutes more until the spinach is wilted.

Serve topped with parmesan cheese.

She's Baaaackkkk...

I've been kindly reminded by not only my husband but also one of my best friends that my blog was.. sort of dormant. So, in honor of the new Fall Season, lets sweep away the cobwebs and catch up, shall we?

Oh my word. I just looked back to see when my last post was. Two MONTHS ago. Sheesh.
Okay let's do a fast forwarded-version of catching up.

My last 2 months in Pictures:

Lance and I both celebrated birthdays at the end of July...

Publix baked my cake since I wasn't feeling up to it..

But then I DID muster up the culinary fortitude to bake this cheesecake for Lance's special day. I'm so glad I did but let me just say, it will be a LONG time before I ever make anything THAT calorie laden again. HA! Half of it went in the freezer! But it was good, and He, of course is worth it!

We enjoyed a little hometown fun one Saturday with a trip to our local farmer's market and riverwalk... (Note: all farmer's markets are NOT created equal. Still spoiled from the NC State Market, but it's better than nothing!) 

Took a little impromptu overnight Girl's trip to Savannah to meet my mom... and have Dinner with Paula of course! 

Someone finally moved from a highchair to the booster seat at the table. I know, it was past time--but she's still so petite we didn't notice! 

 Made this soup... Easy and delicious-- recipe definitely to follow (THIS WEEK!)

 Made this bread.. it's our old standby but we LOVE it. We make two loaves at a time and freeze the second one for a few days later. One loaf doesn't last very long between toast, sandwiches and general eating! 

 Had a visit from Grammy--picked out our pumpkins and mums.. finally got the Fall decor out! 

And last but not least, Jam sessions with Daddy!

OH, and did I mention, we are having another BABY??!!!! We go on Tuesday to find out if pink or blue is in order! We are unbelievably excited. And as a matter of fact, now that the cat's out of the bag on the blogosphere, THAT explains my lack of posts! But I'm feeling MUCH better now, so hopefully we are back to "normal" for a while. Whatever normal is. :)