She Says: Pesto Vegetable Soup
When I lived at home my mom often made delicious soups on Monday evenings, which is probably why I was craving soup so much lately and planned to make a big pot of soup for tonight’s dinner.
I made a Pesto Vegetable Soup loosely based on this recipe, which was based on this recipe.
Recipe for My Version of Pesto Vegetable
You Need:
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 medium white onion
- 2 cloves of garlice
- 3 scallions
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 Parsnip
- 2 Carrots
- 1 Medium Zucchini
- 1 Small Squash
- 2 Plum Tomatoes
- 2 cups pinto beans
For the Pesto
- 2 handfuls of basil
- 3 handfuls of spinach
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 drizzle of EVOO
- 2 T plain Non-fat yogurt
- Salt
Steps:
1. To prepare the pesto place the basil, spinach, yogurt, EVOO and a pinch of salt in a blender or food processor until smooth.
2. Sautee the cut onion, scallion and garlic in EVOO for about ten minutes.
3. In a large pot, pour the veggie broth, and water and cut and quartered sweet potatoes and boil. Let cook for about 10 minutes.
4. Add cut carrots and parsnip and cook for about 10 more minutes.
5. Add the cut zucchini, squash and tomatoes and cook for 10 more minutes.
6. Add the beans. (Note: I cooked the beans dry from the bag and they are sooooo much tastier than canned beans. It wasn’t even that hard. I can’t believe it!)
Beans Before
Beans After
7. Add 3-4 T of pesto (I added all of it) to the soup.
We had it with stuffed peppers Mark’s mom made (they contained brown rice, chick peas, tomatoes and feta cheese).
Both items made for a magnificent Monday!
January 12th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Wow – quite impressive soup! I love how vibrant and green the pesto is.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
That dinner is sure chocked full of the veggies!
January 12th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Dinner looks good!
January 12th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
love pesto!!! And this version is much healthier!!! Thanks for sharing!
January 12th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
i love pesto too!
I am seriously drooling over your dinner even though i am full from mine! looks fabulous Heather- you are talented!
January 12th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
HOLY COW your dinner looks PHENOMENAL!
January 12th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Yum yum yum looks so good, I need to work soup into my diet more, it’s such a comforting food.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
This looks delish, and Mark looks happy!
January 12th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
What a fabulous soup! Great job!
January 12th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
yummy! looks great and sooo creative!
January 12th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Yum! I had stuffed peppers for dinner too
January 12th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
OMG i just found my mom’s food processor from the 70’s, i can’t wait to try this! And about your earlier post- ugh…i totally feel you on the sitting, doing nothing, feeling like a lump
I’ve been home since July and have had no luck with any jobs, all my friends work and i just feel so lame and depressed living at home. That’s really great you have a certification, good luck mama I will be rooting for you!
January 12th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
One of the few redeeming aspects of the winter, to my mind, is that it inspires me to cook soups. Your pesto looks amazing. What gorgeous vivid colour! The perfect antidote to a grey January day.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Heather, now that is some homemade soup! You cooked the dry beans, made your own pesto…impressive. I bet it tasted amazing! I’ll have to try your pesto recipe as I’ve never made it before without pine nuts or walnuts. Thanks for sharing.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Those peppers look down right awesome!!
January 12th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
I love the green of the pesto – it’s so vibrant. Hope you have a terrific Tuesday!
January 13th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Ok that + your pumpkin loaves from earlier are amazing! I need to remember to try stuffed peppers sometime soon. They are so good.
I hope that your sub certification comes through soon!
January 13th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Yuuuum! Looks so good. I love pesto but had reservations about a soup based around it – figured the flavor might be too overpowering. But seeing how many yummy veggies go into it, I’m convinced that I have to make it now. And I love stuffed peppers! What a great combo. Thanks for the inspiration!
January 13th, 2009 at 12:51 am
The soup looks so good! I want to make it! I love pesto, and clearly that one is a little more nutritional.
The peppers look delicious, too. Yum.
What a great dinner!
January 13th, 2009 at 12:52 am
PS — I’ve never made my own beans. Have always bought canned! How do you make them? Sorry if this is a dumb question!
January 13th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Looks like a good soup to me!
Happy Monday H&M!
January 13th, 2009 at 1:42 am
i dont like pesto, but that soup still looks tempting! i can’t believe you made the beans from their dried state! how long did it take, and did you soak them before? ive always wanted to do that (since its waaaaay cheaper to buy them in those big bags).
January 13th, 2009 at 2:27 am
Rose: Mark is always happy when fed.
Pesto Skeptics: I too thought it would be too much in soup, which is why I did spinach and basil. Also, if you notice, the soup is otherwise bland and really needs something to kick it up a notch.
Bean Questioners: I am going to post how I did the beans tomorrow! Pictures and all.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:48 am
pesto is one of my favorite things! its so flavorful and just oh so yummy! I have to admit that i’ve never heard of pesto vegetable soup, but it sure looks great =)
January 13th, 2009 at 5:26 am
I saw this recipe on FitSugar and passed because of the white potatoes. I didn’t think to sub in sweet potatoes! You make it look so easy. Thanks for sharing this!
January 13th, 2009 at 7:10 am
I like that idea of certain days being certain things/foods for dinner.
We have good routines here for the Todder (ok “fine” routines but I try
) but Im stealing soup night 
and throwing in breakfastfordinner night as well.
January 13th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Love soup! Such a great dinner. I love it paired with the peppers! Thank you for the suggestions on the bumble bars! I am going to try one of those two flavors today
January 13th, 2009 at 8:15 am
that soup looks wonderful! It’s been way too long since I had pesto! great picture of mark too. ha
January 13th, 2009 at 8:38 am
that soup looks delicious. its been so cold lately, soup is a must.
January 13th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Delightful!!
January 13th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Fabulous soup! I just love a big bowl of soup when it’s cold like this. Warms the soul!
Have a great day, girl!
January 13th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Good Morning!!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:11 am
yum – i love the bright green color of the pesto!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:27 am
That dinner deserves a holy yum I think
January 13th, 2009 at 10:33 am
I LOVE SOUP!! THIS LOOKS AWESOME!!!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:36 am
wowowowowow.
that looks AWESOME heather, and I LOVE the shared pepper plate
January 13th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Holy cow. Veggies AND pesto? I’m in love!
January 13th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Oh, My! All that food looks A-Mazing!!
January 13th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Mmm…I LOVE pesto and it is so delicious in soup. It gets swirled into each bite and is almost like eating a big bowl of pesto, which I would very much like to do =)
January 13th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Ooh… I’ve never heard of pesto soup. It looks really good and is added to my soup list for sure!
January 13th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
LOVE stuffed peppers!
January 13th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I was sent a bowl and I had it for lunch at work. It was excellent! I also shared the pumkin bread w/my co-workers. Everyone loved that it was a “healthier” bread and loved it. They wanted more. I see a “cookbook” in the future.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
**Just as a heads up: I will not be able to comment on blogs as often now, during this semester, due to work overload (I’m stressed already) – PLEASE know that I’m still loyally reading, but just won’t have time to comment. I hope you understand!!
January 13th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
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January 13th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
those stuffed peppers look fantastic, as does the soup! i like the addition of spinach to the pesto
doh, i’ve been holding out on the beans…
January 14th, 2009 at 12:58 am
a donation for the recipe collection…
Pumpkin Ravioli With Kale Pumpkin Seed Pesto
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/pumpkin-ravioli-recipe-44010603
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