Veggie-Heavy Minestrone

Recipe: [link]

Back in 2005, I married my best friend and boyfriend of 5 years. Now he's a nice fellow, nice to look at ... but he's nice to look at because he's Italian. Which means he likes Italian food.

I'm absolutely 100% not Italian. But I like Italian food. So! I set about learning how to cook Italian food.

This is what we eat when we want vegetable soup. It's not vegetarian because it's made with chicken stock, but if you were to make it with vegetable broth, it'd be vegetarian. Vegan if you didn't put cheese on top. But most importantly, it's delicious. Full of all kinds of good vegetables and beans, makes a great meal on its own or a great side-dish for a baked chicken or whatever.

Makes a ton of food, too, which is great for families like ours where leftovers are the name of the game.