Tuscan Vegetable Bean Soup

Tuscan Vegetable Bean Soup
This makes a ton of soup, use a very large stock pot.....i love to make a lot of soup and freeze it. If you don't just cut the recipe in half and only use on kind of bean so you don't have to waste a half can of each. You might have neighbors or family who would love to take some off of your hands! I know i love to share soup!

Ingredients:
1 cup diced organic onion
4 organic carrots, diced
3 organic stalks celery, diced
3 small organic zucchini, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T chopped fresh thyme
2 t chopped fresh sage
salt and pepper to taste
15 oz can organic cannelloni beans, low sodium rinsed and drained
15 oz can organic dark red kidney beans, low sodium rinsed and drained
4 cups low fat, low sodium organic chicken broth
28 oz can organic low salt petite diced tomatoes with juice
6 cups organic baby spinach leaves, washed and roughly chopped
2 cups low fat low cal low salt organic tomato sauce

Directions:
1. Spray a very large stock pot with cooking spray. Heat on medium high.  Add all ingredients up to and including salt and pepper. Cook about 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
2. Meanwhile, place beans in a bowl and smash half of them with the back of a fork.
3. Add broth, tomatoes, sauce, spinach and beans to pot. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Serve topped with Parmesan Cheese if desired.

 Saute the veggies.

 Mash the beans.

 Add beans to the veggies.

Add remaining ingredients. 

 Simmer and serve!

Yummy!

Serving Size = 1.5 Cups

Calories = 180

Fat = 3g

Fiber = 6g

I also wanted to share with you this cute heart rate monitor i purchased this week. Seems to motivate me a little more to exercise! You wear this strap around your chest, don't even know it is there. You put on the watch and they connect to each other. During your workout, it tracks your heart rate and keeps you in the "zone" for the best weight loss, and tracks the calories you are burning. It is awesome for those who do things outside of a machine that tells you calories burned. I found my treadmill to be comparable in the calories burned, but when i add arm weights and swing my arms (yes i do this!) i burn more calories. I found mine online for 61.00. It is the Polar FT4 and was highly recommended. I LOVE it. I love to watch my heart rate and the calories burned add up....make my workout go by faster! It's fun to watch!