Earlier this week I was looking for something quick and easy but also healthy for dinner, so I decided to try Pioneer Woman’s roasted vegetable minestrone. I’d say it definitely fit the bill for all three of these, given that the only thing that really took much time was cutting up all the veggies. Most of the rest was cook time.

I like this soup a lot for the fact that it has some of my favorite vegetables in it: carrots, yellow squash, zucchini and mushrooms. And I’m always a sucker for anything with pasta in it.

A few things I ended up not loving about the recipe:

  • I should have roasted the squash, zucchini and carrots longer, or possibly put them in two separate pans. I piled them all on one large cooking sheet, and they never really darkened much. They were cooked, but I don’t think I got the full flavor effect.
  • Seasoning the soup was a little difficult for me because many of the recipes directions are “season to taste.” As someone who wasn’t familiar at all with what flavor the turmeric would add, I was really hesitant with it (as well as the salt and pepper just because it was such a HUGE pot of soup), so I think the end result may have been a little flatter than what I was expecting.

A few suggestions if you are going to make this:

  • The recipe says it makes eight servings, but I think it’s more like 12. Seriously, we had so much soup leftover. We stuck some in the freezer and gave some away.
  • I added a minute or two to all of the five minute cook times to let the water come back to a boil. It seemed to work out well that way.
  • I might actually add a second can of tomatoes next time I make this.
  • Make sure to give the pot a really good stir before you serve this because the pasta and kidney beans tend to settle to the bottom. We ended up with a ton of pasta near the end.

This was definitely a great cold-weather recipe, and I’ll be making it again soon with a few small modifications!

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