I have a few bones to pick with the universe.
And by the universe I mostly mean the weather. Yes, it’s cliché, but it’s been driving me a little nuts. One moment it’s freezing, the next my house feels like summer. I love all the seasons, but I’m mourning the gentle stretch of perfect days—think low 60s—that seem to have been skipped this year.
To be honest, my recent human interaction has been thin: a middle-aged woman narrating an audiobook in a thousand unsettling voices and my mailman, who once banged on my door for nearly 15 minutes because I had Paula Abdul blasting so loud I couldn’t hear him. We now have a weird little rapport.
Is that real human connection? I’m counting it. In the meantime I perfected countless batches of whole wheat cinnamon rolls—delicious, yes, but problematic when you’ve baked a million of them and have to eat them all.
I’m also annoyed by small, infuriating things: finding a gorgeous watercolor pillow online for an absurd price, next to a hideous bird lamp also wildly overpriced. I’m pretty sure I could paint something similar myself, so that’s on my to-do list. And why does good cheese have calories? Fontina should be calorieless, or so my pandemic-era logic insists.
Then there’s fashion timing. Crop tops are back and I’m too old for them now, but when they were in style earlier I was too young. Why must the universe be so unfair?
To cope with the weather’s mood swings, I made a soup last week that felt like spring even after it snowed in April. I had three bunches of thin asparagus—my favorite—and wanted to shove spring into everything I cooked.
This soup is embarrassingly easy and perfect for unpredictable days. Toss half the ingredients into the crockpot, set it, and add the rest toward the end. I make a large batch, freeze half for later and keep the rest for lunches or dinners. Once I even turned a portion into a makeshift pot pie with whole wheat parmesan biscuits—comfort food for temperamental weather.
This recipe brightens chilly afternoons and makes me feel slightly less guilty about all the cheese I’ve been eating.
Springtime Crockpot Minestrone
6
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Ingredients
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 (28 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
- 2 (15 ounce) cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
- 3 cups water
- 8 ounces uncooked ditalini pasta
- 12 thin asparagus spears, stems removed and cut into thirds
- 1 cup frozen sweet peas
- 1 (6 ounce) bag of fresh spinach
- 1/3 cup freshly grated romano cheese + more for topping
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
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Add diced onion, garlic, carrots, the can of diced tomatoes, cannellini beans, stock and water to the crockpot. Cook on low for 4–6 hours, stirring once or twice if possible.
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About 10–15 minutes before serving, add asparagus (for a bit of crunch add it later; for softer asparagus add it earlier), spinach, peas and pasta. Cook on low for another 10–15 minutes, then stir in the grated cheese. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed—about 1/2 teaspoon of each is a starting point depending on your stock and tomatoes. Serve immediately with extra cheese on top.
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…and the cinnamon rolls.