Souper Saturday--Made-up Minestrone

I didn't plan ahead for tonight's soup, so I again had to work with what was in the house. After much thought and a recipe search, I came up with minestrone. I didn't really use a single recipe, but just looked at a couple of different ones to get the idea of basic ingredients.

So, here's what I did:

Sauteed chopped onion and garlic in olive oil. Pureed a can of tomatoes and added to pot; then I decided to put it all back in the blender to blend up the onion chunks (kids), but of course I could've just added the onions to the tomatoes in the blender in the first place. Back into the pot, and I added 2 cups of water and 2 packets of Trader Joes beef broth concentrate. Added a can of kidney beans, and a can of green beans (which I only had because the kids are having a can drive at school). In the fridge I had some leftovers from a couple nights ago; it was a simple skillet dinner of ground beef and elbow macaroni in a tomato base. I added that, a little more cooked ground beef that I had in the freezer, and some more cooked macaroni. I seasoned with a little basil, oregano and salt. I topped each serving with parmesan cheese.

I didn't expect the kids to eat the green beans; they all have a strong aversion to this particular vegetable, so I tried not to put any in their bowls. Still, the overall chunkiness of the soup made them suspicious. They did eat most of it, somewhat reluctantly. The boys added Tabasco. Handsome was very impressed on first bite, but I guess it became less impressive over time because he originally gave it a 6-point-something, and then rounded up to 7.

Ratings:
Handsome 7
Me 7
Firstborn 4
Skippy 5
Pinkerbelle 4
Average: 5.4