Minestrone Soup Vegan — 1½. Carb Choices* A real Italian treat is a minestrone soup with the flavor of basil, penne pasta and a very good tomato base. You can add meat, although this recipe doesn’t have it. This all vegetarian, easy to make and about as healthy a soup as you can find. Makes 8 Cups Sodium Per Recipe: 677.1 mg Sodium Per Cup: 84.6 mg 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (trace) ½ medium green bell pepper, chopped (2.38 mg) ½ medium to large red onion, chopped (3 mg) 1 6” zucchini, sliced (19.6 mg) 3 cloves garlic, minced (1.53 mg) 1-cup carrots, washed, peeled, sliced thinly (88.3 mg) 6 cups Scott’s homemade vegetable broth (153.4 mg) 1 14.5 ounce can no salt added tomatoes, drained (105.mg) 1 14.5 can Eden Organic no salt added white beans, drained (140 mg) ½ cup small gigli pasta** (1.129 mg) 4 fresh basil leaves, chopped (.08 mg) ½ cup baby spinach leaves, chopped (11.9mg) Prepare Maureen’s chicken broth a day before. See The No Salt, Lowest Sodium Light Meals book or Living Well Without Salt book, or visit http://www.megaheart.com/kit_maureenschickenbroth.html Heat olive oil in a nonstick pot and sautė green pepper and onion for about five minutes or until onions begin to turn translucent. Add the zucchini, garlic, carrots and continue to saute another five minutes or until tender. Add Maureen’s broth, the canned tomatoes, and Eden beans and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and continue to cook for about 8-minutes. Add basil and spinach, stir until spinach is cooked, about 2 to three minutes. Serve hot. May freeze in containers to future use. *This soup has more than 5 grams of fiber. Once a serving has more than 5 grams you can subtract that from the total carbohydrates listed and then calculate the carb choices. In this case, we drop the Carb Choices from 2 to 1½. **Gigli is an Italian pasta that is flower shaped. Substitutes include penne, fusilli, rotini, gemelli, farfalle, macaroni, or rigatoni. Nutritional Data Per Cup: Calories: 158.7, Protein: 7.182 g, Carbohydrate: 24.5 g, Dietary Fiber: 6.391 g, Total Sugars: 4.736 g, Total Fat: 4.011 g, Saturated Fat: .727 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1.459 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.06 g, Cholesterol: 8.473 mg, Trans Fatty Acids: 0 g, Total Omega-3 FA: .064 g, Total Omega-6 FA: 0 g, Calcium: 58.8 mg, Potassium: 635.9 mg, Sodium: 84.6 mg, Vitamin K: 42.5 mcg ; .