Zuppa di Sabato Sera: Ceci, Funghi e Carotte

I was at a complete and total loss as to what to make for dinner tonight. Its pouring rain and I've been in my pjs all day, so as you can imagine, I certainly did not feel like going grocery shopping. The choices were seemingly slim, some stale bread with olive oil and parmigiano, which may not have been so bad if I stuck it in the oven and smeared it with garlic, but I decided to get creative instead. I opened the cabinet doors and stared for about 20 minutes and all I saw were beans. Ceci (garbanzo), borlotti (pinto), and rossi (red) and corn flour. Then I remembered that I had some mushrooms, frozen spinach, carrots and peas......

...so here's what happened.

I used:
1 medium onion chopped
4 on the large side, garlic cloves minced
2 large carrots peeled and sliced
About 10-12 large mushrooms sliced (I really think any kind would be fine)
2 cans chickpeas (of course you can soak your own, but I'm too lazy and always buy canned beans)
1 cube frozen spinach
About one cup frozen peas
Vegetable broth
Olive oil

Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until browned. Add the sliced carrots and mushrooms and sauté all together for a few minutes, add a bit of the veggie broth and let simmer. Rinse the garbanzo beans and throw a can and a half in the blender or food processor with some of the broth. Then add the remaining chickpeas to the soup you've got going on the stove, then pour the blended chickpeas in and mix it all together. Add any remaining broth and let simmer. Now throw the frozen spinach and frozen peas in and let it cook until the carrots are the way you like em. And that's it! A hearty healthy vegetable soup for a rainy Saturday night! And It's vegan too!

I also made a side of cornbread and used this recipe here Nice and easy, and came out soft and sweet. I threw a slice right on top of the soup before serving and we ate it all together.

I had a little spill over, I guess I should have used the bigger baking pan. Oops! Still tasted good though!

Please let me know if you try it, I'd love to hear! Or if have suggestions or variations? Let me know in the comments below!

P.S Hubby had two servings and practically licked the bowl after AND the cornbread was polished off too!

Notte!