Broiled Cheese, Bread, and Bean Soup

Last night the weather was cold and damp, and so I was in the mood for soup. Never mind that it's June, this is definitely soup weather.

I turned to my favorite WW cookbook, "Ultimate Flex & Core" (what a dull name for a book that actually has delicious recipes), and found this recipe. It's great!

Broiled Cheese, Bread, and Bean Soup

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: About 15 minutes
Serves: 4

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups reduced sodium vegetable broth
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
1 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/4 teapsoon freshly ground pepper
2 15.5 ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
4 ounces Italian bread, cut into chunks
1/2 cup shredded manchengo cheese

1. Heat the oil in an ovenproof Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook, stirring requently, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the broth, tomatoes, spinach, and pepper, bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occassionally. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the flavors are blended, about 2 minutes. Stir in the beans and cook until hot, about 3 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler. Stir the bread chunks into the soup, sprinkle iwth the cheese. Stand the Dutch oven on the oven rack and broil 4 inches from the heat until the cheese and bread are lightly browned, 1-2 minutes.

Per serving (1 3/4 cups):
401 calories
8 g fat
14 g fiber
Points value: 8

My notes:
I didn't have vegetable broth, so I used beef broth. My assumption is that any kind would work.

I didn't have herbed tomatoes, so I used plain ones, and added fresh basil and oregano from our garden, and doubled the garlic.

I would have preferred fresh spinach, but our garden spinach isn't doing well, and 10 ounces owuld hve been $6 fresh (organic), so I stuck with frozen (organic for $3.49). I chose not to drain it, as that green water is full of nutrition and hey, it's soup! A little extra liquid wasn't noticable.

The notes said that other types of cheese could be used as well, and since the Manchengo at Thriftway was $10 for a small-ish chunk, I used standard Tillamook cheddar, which we already had. It was great. (Trader Joe's sells Manchengo for a reasonable price...next time I make this I'll plan ahead and get some there, because the stronger flavor woudl be good.)

I added a chopped fresh carrot, and I think that just about any additional veggies would be great, too.

And finally, I didn't stir in the bread, I placed it on top, with the cheese on top of it, so that it made a nice crust like a French Onion Soup. Looked much better, and when served it got stirred in and soaked up the good liquid anyway.

This served our family's dinner last night, and Tessa and I had it for lunch today as well. Ryan and Tessa, who are not on WW, supplemented theirs with additional slices of bread with some sliced cheese....I managed to hold off, which was tough for me, but the soup WAS filling so it was worth it.