One of my favorite ways to sneak veggies into my diet is through soup. Sometimes you just don’t want roasted veggies or a salad and starting your meal with a veggie-packed soup is an often overlooked way of getting tons of nutrients and fiber in to start your meal off on the right foot!

This soup is full of rich italian flavors, subtle hints of organic turkey bacon and fresh herbs. The cannelini beans add protein and bulk to the soup so it makes for a really great soup to pair with a lighter main course.

I always tell my clients to get comfortable with their freezer!

Instead of meal prepping for the entire week and eating leftovers out of tupperware (ugh), I like to choose one bigger recipe each week that I can freeze. I’ll then make my recipe (in this case, soup) and portion it out into individual tupperware and pop them in the refrigerator. This soup makes ~11 servings so from this one quick recipe I got 11 freezer friendly portions! I could eat one per week and I’ll have it prepped for the next 3 months, without having to eat the same thing everyday!

Tuscan Vegetable Soup

Serves: 11

Ingredients:

• Nonstick Olive Oil Spray (enough to coat pan)

• 2 Slices Applegate Organics Uncured Turkey Bacon

• 1 Medium onion, diced

• 2 medium carrots, diced (about ½ cup)

• 2 stalks celery, diced (about ½ cup)

• 1 small zucchini, diced

• 2 clove garlic, minced

• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tsp. dried)

• 2 tsps. chopped fresh sage (or ½ tsp. dried)

• ½ tsp. salt

• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

• 1 (14.5-oz) can Fire Roasted diced tomatoes, with juices

• 1 (15.5-oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (~1.75 cup)

Directions:

1. Preheat large soup pot over medium heat and spray with nonstick olive oil spray.

2. Add turkey bacon and allow to cook for ~2 minutes.

3. Add onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, garlic, thyme, sage, salt and pepper.

4. Allow veggies to cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables begin to soften.

5. Add the chicken broth and tomatoes. Bring soup to a boil.

6. Add cannellini beans. Reduce soup to a simmer and allow to cook for 20-30 minutes.

Notes:

• This recipe is freezer friendly!

Nutrition Facts (per 1 cup serving): 90 Calories, 1 g Fat, 15 g Carbohydrate, 3 g Fiber, 6 g Protein