Tuscan Vegetable Soup

Panera Bread is one of my favorite places to eat soup and salad. I love how they have the calories listed on the menu so you can make a wiser choice for you and your family.

I am a member of the "My Panera" club and frequently get emails from them with recipes, another great reason to love Panera. I received the recipe below in my email box from Panera and decided to give it a try (with a few changes).

Tuscan Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Cup onions, chopped
1 Cup celery, chopped
1 Cup carrots, chopped
4 Garlic cloves, minced
1/4 Tsp red pepper flakes
1 (15oz) Can diced no-salt tomatoes (basil, oregano, garlic flavor)
8 oz Rainbow chard (you can use any kind you like)
1 Cup pinto beans
1 Cup black beans
6 Cups vegetable broth
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
1/2 Tsp salt
1 Sourdough, French or Italian bread, cubed (optional)
1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, celery, and carrots and cook until the vegetables are tender about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and the red pepper flakes and cook for an additional minute.

Add the tomatoes with their juice, and chard and cook for about 10 minutes.

Puree one cup of pinto beans and 1 cup of broth in a food processor. Add to the soup along with 5 cups of vegetable broth.

Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

Stir in the parsley, salt and bread cubes and simmer for 10 more minutes.

Serve with parmesan cheese.

* My husband did not care for the bread inside the soup, so next time I would just serve it along side.