Mmm mmm, good!

One of my favorite meals is Campbell's tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. Creamy soup with lots of black pepper and a melty, crunchy sandwich perfect for dunking.  Mmm mmm, good for sure!

But my favorite soup to make from scratch is Hunter's Minestrone.

I am not a recipe purist and rarely follow a recipe to the letter. This soup sounded so good, though, that I made it (almost) exactly as the chef did. Here are my edits and notes:

• Veggies - I cannot figure out how to finely chop veggies in my food processor, and end up with either huge chunks or puree - neither of which I want in this soup. So I chop them by hand. Somewhat time consuming but definitely worth it.
• Herbs - You. Must. Use. Fresh. Herbs. No, I've not tried this recipe with dried, but the fresh are sooo good, I can't imagine not using them. This can add an expense to the soup, but you can always dry or freeze any leftover herbs for future use.
• Sausage - I have always used the loose sausage the recipe calls for and it really flavors the soup well. I shopped yesterday while I was hungry, and they were giving away samples of cooked chiorizo. Of course they were on sale AND there was a coupon, so I got them. They taste good, but the flavor doesn't go through the soup like when I use the loose...go with that.
• Bread - I serve bread for dipping, but don't do the cheesey crouton (a la french onion soup) that the recipe calls for.  Hmmm....but a melty, crunchy grilled cheese for dunking might be good!  Next time!

Enjoy!