Creamy Italian White Bean Soup

If you like beans and spinach (or broccoli), you will like this recipe. It's quite quick and easy to make, so it's an ideal meal for any day, even when you don't have a lot of time to cook. You can tweak it with different spices or substitute spinach with broccoli to give it more flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• 1 onion, chopped

• 1 stalk celery, chopped

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 2 (16 ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth

• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

• ⅛ teaspoon dried thyme

• 2 cups water

• 1 bunch fresh spinach, rinsed and thinly sliced

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil. Cook onion and celery in oil for 5 to 8 minutes, or until tender. Add garlic, and cook for 30 seconds, continually stirring.

2. Stir in beans, chicken broth, pepper, thyme and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and then simmer for 15 minutes.

3. With slotted spoon, remove 2 cups of the bean and vegetable mixture from soup and set aside.

4. In blender at low speed, blend remaining soup in small batches until smooth, (it helps to remove the center piece of the blender lid to allow steam to escape.)

5. Once blended pour soup back into stock pot and stir in reserved beans.

6. Bring to a boil, occasionally stirring. Stir in spinach and cook 1 minute or until spinach is wilted.

7. Stir in lemon juice and remove from heat and serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Source: Allrecipes