Minestrone Soup

 I was trying to use up some celery and carrots and I ran across a Vegetable Minestrone recipe here. I only have a 3.5 qt crock pot so I tweaked the recipe a bit (as is normal). I really liked the way it turned out. I made it on Saturday because the weather was suppose to be cooler, but it didn't turn out to be cooler :(. We tried this soup with Parmesan, but the mozzarella really does make this soup.

Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup

Place 1 cup celery, sliced; one cup carrots, sliced; 1 medium onion chopped (about 1 cup); and 4 cloves garlic, minced into crock pot.
Add 1 can vegetable broth (about 1-3/4 cups).
Then add 2 cups tomato juice (you could also add crushed tomatoes, or watered down tomato sauce, whatever you have on hand.)
Add the spices next: 1 Tbsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, and 1/4 tsp pepper.
Next add 1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained. Mix it all together. So it really doesn't matter in what order you add the ingredients, but I like to think I can influence how other people cook!

Cook on low for 8 hours (give or take depending on your slow-cooker). Add 1 cup rotini pasta and cook for 20 minutes longer.
Top 2 cups soup with 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese. (Please excuse the blurry photo.)
Enjoy!

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