The Best Soup I've Ever Made/Had

Years ago when I was traveling through Italy, I came to love Minestrone Soup. I tried it in every restaurant I went to while I was there and my favorite was found at a little cafe in a small alley in Torin. It was the only place open when we arrived, tired and starving (during Siesta, everything is closed) and I thank my lucky stars for that. Even today, I remember how good it was, although I can no longer remember the name of the Cafe.

Since that time, it's been a favorite even though nothing has ever lived up to that Cafe in Torin. I only tried making my own once, almost 20 years ago when my cooking capabilities only consisted of following recipes with absolutely no imagination of my own. Well, I can confidently say my imagination has taken off over the past 5 years and my cooking is the better for it and with the popularity of Pinterest I can find inspiration anywhere, even in the market, by using my phone.

This is my version and it was so hearty and GOOD!

I found a recipe that looked delicious (I love seeing what my food is supposed to look like) especially because she put Tortellini in it. I purchased all the fresh Organic produce and ingredients I would need and I went to work. Here is the link to the original recipe. With props to WinnieAb I only used her ingredient list, minus the bacon (I avoid the use of pork and beef whenever possible). I found the canned ingredients in BPA free packaging (because I get a little crazier every year) and in case you're interested, here's an article highlighting which brands are listening or not regarding the BPA issue. Now many have asked for the recipe, which you can find at the link above, but that's not how I cook. I can tell you if it says 3 cloves of garlic, I'm going to AT LEAST double that. I like my Minestrone to be chock full of fresh veggies so I just cut up what looks good for me. I eyeball most everything according to my taste and improvise where I think it's appropriate.

Here's my ingredient list:

more than 1 cup	Organic Basil AND parsley FRESH!
2	Organic Carrots
2	Organic Celery, ribs of
1 15 oz. can	Organic Chickpeas, cooked
10 large cloves	Organic Garlic
2 cup	Organic Kale, chopped
1	Organic Leek
1	Organic Yellow Onion, large
4	Organic Potatoes
1 28 oz. can	Organic tomatoes, with juice
1 basket	Organic cherry or grape tomatoes
1	Organic Zucchini
1/4 Cup	Homemade Pesto
1pkg	Pesto Tortellini
2 bx	Organic Vegetable Broth

Here's how I made it. First I gently sauteed the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, leeks and cherry tomatoes all together. I start with the tomatoes, carrots and celery because they need to cook longer and the tomatoes need to burst, adding in the garlic, onions, leek. Then I added the broth, canned tomatoes, chickpeas potatoes, pesto and holding off til the last 15 minutes or so to add the Tortellini, finally adding the Zucchini and Kale (because I don't want them overcooked). I reserved some of the pesto for garnish, but added a good portion to the soup. If you want a cook time, I can't tell you exactly, but I taste it regularly adding Salt & Pepper when needed. Once the potatoes are cooked through and the Tortellini looks perfect, then it's basically done. I served with a dab of pesto, some fresh cut basil and Parmesan cheese on top.

I didn't know how much I was going to have but at the end it was close to 14 cups so I froze a bunch of 2 cup containers for future meals. 

I'll note here that I did not add Parmesan to my Pesto. This is an old trick I learned from a friend. I make my own pesto then freeze it in a flat glass container, cut it up into cubes and keep it in the freezer and add it to sauces. It's an amazing flavor addition to any Italian dish and you can always add the cheese once it's defrosted.

Wendy's Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger

The old me wants to try this. I love hamburgers. The me in the present wants to know what's in it. This ruins it you tell me. My logic? I want to make a conscious decision. I need to know. 2 weeks ago I decided to no longer include pork or beef in my diet. So unless they make a turkey version I won't be indulging anytime soon. My body. I have a right to know what I'm putting in it. In fact, I want it to be ruined for me, then I won't eat it. I can live with that. Even a few weeks ago I may have tried it, but I would have definitely split it with you or saved half for later (assuming I recovered from what it does to my stomach).

Spoiler Alert! If you really don't want to hear it, don't read any further. I wouldn't want to ruin it for you, unless of course, it's what you want. 

So....This little contributor to obesity in America is 680 calories. Not the most calories of Wendy's menu, but lets face it, nobody needs to put down this entire burger in one sitting, especially when you haven't taken into account "Do you want fries with that?" Unless you are off to film Survivor of course.

Along with those calories comes 36 grams of fat that I'm willing to bet is mostly heart choking, artery clogging, and cholesterol rocketing saturated fat. Fact checker?? 

I'm shocked to say that 13grams of that is MUFA, however that's even too much of a good thing. Lets layer on the other fats, including 1.5mg of trans fat and you've just consumed over 50% of your recommended fat intake for the day...and let it be said that, in my humble opinion, most of that should be MUFAs. 

1110mg of sodium? You need maybe 1500-2000mg PER DAY! Can you say water retention? I'm feeling dehydrated just thinking about it. Good thing you can get a soda with that....(but I won't go into soda, here, that's a rant for another day) 46 grams of carbohydrates and 7 grams of sugar are just ripe to be stored as fat. But of course, lets not forget my crazy revolution to get Newbury Park to #eatclean... the produce is not organic...tomatoes and lettuce are heavily sprayed with pesticides and no peel.  The beef is cornfed straight from Monsanto, not to mention the environmental impact of the whole Agro industry...and the pigs, you know they're very intelligent? They know, when the guy is standing there with a prod in his hand, shits going down. 

I'm sure it's GOOD. That's what I keep hearing, but I know what kind of chemical mix it takes to make something good and frankly, since my pallet has been detoxed, stuff like this no longer tastes that good to me and I consider that a good thing.

yes I watched Veducated but I feel strongly about my decision to stop eating certain meats. It's not  The me in this moment is good with that.

However, I think I may need a break from Netflix...