Minestrone with pasta, or Italian bean soup

Supposed to be Minestrone but maybe more of an Italian bean soup – cooked too many cranberry beans

Made this with 2 carrots, 2 celery, half a giant sized sweet onion, roughly 28 oz of plum tomatoes that were canned and were drained and crushed by hand, a lot of cooked cranberry beans that started as 1 lb of dry beans, somewhere over a cup of finely chopped collard greens with stems removed (leaves only), a quart of chicken broth and ultimately a quart of water.

Sauté onions, carrots and celery (chopped to your preference for size) in cooking olive oil or an a fat of your choice. Add 4 cloves of minced garlic. Add your crushed up tomatoes or whatever tomatoes you have on hand and the quart of chicken broth and 2 cups of water to start. Add your beans and collard greens. Add more water if it’s too thick. Cook until vegetables are to your preference

For seasonings I threw in some salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, dried herbs (basil, oregano and thyme when I added the liquid. Herbs to your preference but I used equal parts oregano, thyme and basil. Serve with your choice of pasta. Also recommend grated Parmigiana or Romano. Also add more crushed red pepper to your bowl if desired.