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Hearty Beef, Pasta, and Spinach Minestrone

Read Reviews (13)

"This minestrone is a breeze to whip up. Try it with crusty sourdough bread and Caesar salad." — Cooking Light magazine

Ingredients Edit and Save

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Original recipe makes 4 servings Change Servings

1/2 pound ground round
6 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can no-salt-added stewed tomatoes, undrained and chopped

1 (4.4 ounce) package minestrone soup mix
1/2 cup uncooked ditalini (very short tubular macaroni)
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach - thawed, drained and squeezed dry

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Directions

Cook ground round in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until the meat is browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well, and return meat to pan. Stir in water, stewed tomatoes, and soup mix, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in ditalini and chopped spinach, and simmer for 7 minutes or until the pasta is tender.

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Footnotes

Reprinted with permission of Cooking Light® magazine. All rights reserved.
CALORIES 281 (12% from fat); FAT 3.7g (sat 0.9g, mono 1.0g, poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 22g; CARB 40.4g; FIBER 5.6g; CHOL 32mg; IRON 4.9mg; SODIUM 851mg; CALC 129m

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My wife and I really enjoyed this Minestrone recipe. The preparation was a breeze and it created such an enticing aroma while it was cooking. I would defintely recommend this to anyone who likes a good hearty stew. We did make a few minor alterations to the original recipe...I added some minced garlic, italian spice and cracked pepper to the dutch oven as it cooked. It was excellent!!! We

—FROSTY1

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Most Helpful Critical Review

Jun 16, 2005

OK, but not great.

—JSALAS

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18 Ratings

Oct 08, 2007

Very tasty, quick and easy to make. I make this soup at least once a month during the winter. I sometimes substiute lean ground turkey and no one notices a difference in the taste. I always substitute lowfat beef broth for the water. Usually serve this with crusty Italian bread or corn bread. I often double the recipe so that I can freeze some, but when I do I leave out the pasta since it tends to become mushy. I add the pasta when I get ready to reheat and serve.

—WORKINGGIRL61

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Jan 25, 2004

Very tasty, and so easy to make too! I substituted stew beef for ground round and added a can of tomato paste and some pepper, italian seasoning, and grated parmesan. I will make this one again for sure.

—Bec

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Jan 25, 2004

Great recipe. Easy to make, tastes great. I added more macaroni to fill the soup up. The sourdough bread dipped in it was fabulous. I'll be making this again!

—AZgin

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Jan 25, 2004

This minestrone is very easy to make. It is also very delicious if you like spinach (which my husband and I do). It is good if you let it cook a little bit longer on low like a sauce or chili. This dish is very tasty and nutritious. I will definitely make this dish again.

—HARMBRIZ

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Feb 13, 2004

Excellent flavor - does not taste like 'packaged' soup. Ground turkey works great too. One of our favorite cold night meals... with a crusty bread

—JENNWYNN

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Mar 23, 2005

This is a great recipe, now a family favorite. I do want to note that I kick it up with chicken broth, seasoning, garlic and most importantly some Parmesan/Romano cheese. Otherwise, its a little plain, but still deserves 5 stars.

—BADDABING28

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