Slow Cooker Vegetarian Minestrone Soup

For the Pasta

1. Take a deep pot.
2. Pour 5 to 6 glasses of water into the pot.
3. Add salt and oil in the pot and bring the water to boil.
4. Add the Ditalini pasta into the pot and let it boil until it is only half tender.
5. Drain the hot water and run the pasta through cold water.
6. Set it aside until it is needed for the soup.

For the Soup

1. Put a slow cooker on the stove.
2. Add chopped celery, chopped carrots, chopped zucchini, chopped stems of Swiss chard, minced garlic and cannellini beans into the cooker.
3. Mix all the vegetables well.
4. Now add tomato puree, Italian seasoning, oregano, cayenne, salt and freshly ground black pepper into the cooker.
5. Mix all the spices with the vegetables well.
6. Add vegetable stock into the cooker, cover the lid and let the slow cooker vegetarian minestrone soup cook on low flame for at least 8 hours.
7. After 8 hours, remove the lid and add spinach leaves and Swiss chard leaves into the soup.
8. Cook for a few minutes then add the boiled pasta into the soup.
9. Mix it well into the rest of the soup.
10. Ladle out a large bowl of soup and garnish with grated parmesan cheese to serve hot!

Trivia

• The word Minestrone is generally understood as, ‘a mix of all things’.
• Sometimes, Minestrone also denotes, ‘hodgepodge’ or ‘thrown-together’.

Although, it is a vegetarian soup, you can add meat into it if you want to. It’s a very common practice around the globe.