Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup

    As you can tell, my New Year's resolution was not to blog more!  I've been slacking lately.  Arnauld has been pretty busy at work, so busy that I was already asleep every night this week before he came home.  Poor guy.  An empty house and the thought of cooking just for me forced me to go begging for dinner from my parents and my Grandma this week.  While at my mom's I even packed leftovers for lunch at work this week.  Today it was my mission to ease my way back into the kitchen and the crock pot seemed like the best way to do just that.  This is a recipe for minestrone soup was one that I saw on Pinterest, a very fun site for those of you who may not have discovered it yet.  A few clicks further, I discovered that the recipe originated from one of my favorite cooking sites, skinnytaste.com , home of many healthy and delicious recipes.

Minestrone Soup

Ingredients
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped ( I didn't have carrots so I substituted peas)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can Cannellini beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 oz of parmesan cheese rind
3 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1 sprig of rosemary
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
2 cups spinach (fresh or frozen), chopped
2 cups Orzo pasta, cooked
extra parmesan to sprinkle on the soup when serving

Method
1. Combine all ingredients, through the parsley, in your slow cooked.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
2. 40 minutes before the soup is done, add the zucchini and spinach.
3. 10 minutes before the soup is done, add the pasta.
4. Remove rosemary sprig, bay leaves, and parmesan rind.  Season with salt and pepper and serve sprinkled with shredded parmesan cheese.