Minestrone Soup

[LeslieDean]

A customer of ours said that he had not been in recently because his girlfriend died of breast cancer a few months ago and he was too sad to be going out. He said that he was putting her Memorial announcement in his mothers Bible to keep as a keepsake. Whn he got his mothers Bible out of his closet and opened it a piece of paper fell out that had her Minestrone Soup recipe on it. He said it brought tears to his eyes because he recalled all the times she had made it for him and how good he remembered it. He then smiled a slow smile and said "I just didn't ralize what a cheater she was though" I was surprised to hear him ay that and did not want to comment so I just waited to see what he would say next. He said that the "homemade" soup she always made was actually just many cans thrown together with 2lbs of fried hamburger and a chopped onion. We started to laugh then he said "I know how much you enjoy cooking so I want to share this recipe with you" I gave him a piece of paper and this is what he wrote.

Fry 2lbs of HB with one chopped onion- then drain off any fat if necessary. Add 2 cans of ranch style beans, one can of carrots drained, one can of green beans drained, 3 cans of Campbells soup, 2 cans Rol-Tel tomatoes and green chilis, 1 cup of dried macaroni, and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes. This soup tastes like you spent all day making it. It is so good and so simple.

I then told him I had something to share with him and gave him the brouchure When someone you love does. I hope he reads it. I caught him at a moment where we were able to share privately before too many people began to interrupt.

My sister and I made a double batch of this soup. I fried the HB while she did the hard part!!! Opening all those cans.! She said her carpel tunnel began to flare up. I need to invest in a new can opener before we do this again.

[Joey]

Did you serve that to your customers? Sounds good. What kind of Campbell soup was it?

[LeslieDean]

Campbells minestrone soup. Yes it was bitter cold Monday night-alerting and snowing and we gave away bowls of the soup with Mexican cornbread. It was delicious!

[Joey]

Yum! I'm making it tomorrow night!

[LeslieDean]

I hope you have a good can opener!

[surfergirl]

Bellismo. I adore Mine`strone`. Lol. am Italian Sister makes its. The best.

[Joey]

I made the soup! It was very good . The kids liked it.I made cinnamon rolls to.My son was begging me and I never made them before.

He gets an idea for something and I do my best.They were good because I used a dinner roll mix and followed the recipe on the side for cinnamon rolls.

Thanks for the idea.

Oh I cut the recipe in half...so not so many cans and a couple had pull off lids.

[LeslieDean]

Man I should of grabbed the onew with pull tabs. I would love to have one of the cinammon rolls. I bet he ate them all did'nt he?

[Joey]

They were 12 huge cinnamon rolls... he didn't eat them all, they were really good. I told him that was a rare treat....can't do that all the time.

[Cherie]

Thanks so much for this recipe Leslie. I made it substituting less spicy beans and tomatoes for my husband and it was great. I added a few drops of thai fish sauce and some soy sauce and nothing tasted "canned." Even with only a half recipe, it made plenty to share with a sister who lost her fleshly sister this week. I was so glad to have this no brainer recipe to cook.

Ha! Nancy! I had some cinnamon rolls in the freezer and pulled them out to have after the soup. xoxoxo

[LeslieDean]

I am glad you liked it. It really surprised me too that it was so good. I guess I am learning everything does not have to be made from scratch and be so labor intensive to be good. I have a 6 can taco soup and a 9 can taco soup that is right up there with it. I will tell Roger that I have shared his mom's recipe and that even though she has passed she continues to have othrslearn about her recipe! That is a good intro for me to talk with him some more!