Happy Birthday… my lovely, newly married daughter!  We have welcomed Cheryl into our family this year with great delight and love for this very special, effervescent young lady who has stolen all of our hearts!!!  Even though she and Dave are approaching their one year wedding anniversary, to see them interact together is heartwarming and makes one think they are still on their honeymoon!  I am ever grateful for the love she has for Dave…and for the us all…and want her to know how very much we all cherish her as a member of our family!

My wedding gift to Dave & Cheryl was a personalized family cookbook filled with all of our family’s favorite recipes and Dave’s photos and memorabilia from when he was a baby through all the phases and important moments of his life, up through and including their wedding….a culinary trip down Dave’s memory lane, so to speak.  And I’m happy to see that already Cheryl is trying out some of Dave’s favorite recipes…with great results!

Here is one of Dave’s favorite soups…and Cheryl’s most recent culinary coup…. minestrone soup.  Although the number of ingredients appears daunting, throwing this soup together couldn’t be easier or faster…with delish results.  And for a newlywed couple, provides many leftovers which are very freezeable for convenient hot, nourishing lunches during a cold winter.

Be forewarned…this recipe makes a huge pot of soup, as Cheryl found out…in fact, her soup pot wasn’t nearly large enough, and being the resourceful young gal that she is… Cheryl pulled out the only other large vessel she had available…her wok!  Good thinking, huh?  So this very scrumptious Italian minestrone soup was prepared in a Chinese wok!  You gotta love ingenuity, right?  Thank you Cheryl, for sharing your culinary success with us!

Mom’s Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 medium green pepper, chopped
• 1 small zucchini squash, in bite-size pieces
• 1 small summer squash, in bite-size pieces
• 2 medium potatoes, in bite-size pieces
• 1 can cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 can chick peas, drained & rinsed
• 1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1/2 lb green beans
• 1/2 lb baby lima beans
• 2 qts chicken or beef broth
• 2 qts water
• 1  10 oz can Rotel tomatoes
• 1  35 oz can whole Italian tomatoes, chopped
• 1 Tbl oregano
• 1 Tbl basil
• salt & pepper to taste
• piece of parmesan rind (optional)
• 1 lb Italian sausage, fried and sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 1 lb cheese tortellini
• grated parmesan cheese

Heat 2 Tbl olive oil in 12 qt soup pot and sweat onions, peppers, carrots, and squash.

After a few minutes, add rest of veggies, all the tomatoes, liquids, seasonings and parmesan rind.

Bring to a boil, and turn down to a simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook tortellini al dente, drain and drizzle with olive oil to prevent sticking.

Serve minestrone hot with tortellini, Italian sausage dropped into each serving…and topped with grated parmesan cheese.

If I am freezing the soup, I don’t use cooked tortellini…instead I add uncooked tortellini to each serving of cooled soup before freezing.  When it is thawed and heated up, the tortellini quickly cooks without becoming soggy and absorbing too much soup liquid.