Comforting Soup (Vegetable)

Hearty, warm and delicious. .. this soup is great for cold weather or a Sunday night when you just want to chill and snuggle-up on the couch with something comforting.


Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion diced- approx. 1 cup
1 ½ cup diced carrots
1 ¼ cup celery diced (add leaves and some stalk from inner plant)
1 ¼ cup diced zucchini
3-4 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1 can white kidney beans or navy beans (15 oz)
4 cups organic free range chicken broth (32 oz)
1 cup chopped escarole
½ cup flat leaf parsley
Fresh ground pepper
Sea salt
Chopped basil- optional

Heat oil in large dutch oven. Over medium heat, cooks carrots, zucchini, celery and onions until slightly brown. Add garlic and stir. Add stewed tomatoes and beans. Let mixture cook together over low heat. Add chicken stock and stir. Rough chop parsley and add. Add 8 turns of fresh ground pepper. Add about a teaspoon of sea salt. (Adjust salt to your personal taste.) I like to add fresh basil or one or two of the little frozen basil cubes you can get at the grocery store. Simmer for one hour.

I like my soup thick, like a stew, but you can add more water or chicken stock if needed.