Minestrone Soup

Serves 16.

Ingredients
3 cans canneline beans
3 strips bacon, cut into large chunks
11 cups chicken broth (separated)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 carrots (1 diced, 2 sliced)
5 cloves garlic, minced
fresh parsley
2 cans chopped tomato
2 handfuls fresh spinach
1 handful macaroni noodles
Parmesan cheese

Directions
Rinse canneline beans and add to large pot with bacon and 6 cups of chicken broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook gently for 1 hour.

In a separate large pot, heat 1/2 c. olive oil. Dice one carrot and add with diced onion, garlic, and chopped fresh parsley. Saute for 5–8 minutes before adding chopped tomato, spinach, macaroni noodles, the remaining 5 cups chicken broth, and the remaining two carrots, sliced. Simmer 40–50 minutes

Remove bacon chunks from beans. Dice bacon, and add to the vegetables. In blender, blend half of the beans to paste (be careful, they will be hot!!). Add blended beans to the vegetables. Add remaining beans and broth to the vegetables. Simmer 5 minutes

Garnish with Parmesan cheese.