Slow Cooker Bean and Pasta Soup

I am finding it very challenging to find recipes where I can use all of the ingredients from the vegetable CSA and serve something that my non-adventurous-food-eating-four-year-old will eat without a fuss. I thought this minestrone-like soup that I adapted from my Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook to leave out tomatoes and onions would work; I was wrong. We did eventually convince him to eat the beans and pasta by removing them from the offending broth. Sigh. He continues to try new foods, but expanding his palate is surprisingly difficult.

The soup was ok, but it would have been better as a real minestrone with onions and tomatoes.

Slow Cooker Bean and Pasta Soup

1 t onion powder

2 cloves garlic minced (from Open Oak CSA)

2t oregano

2 T grape seed oil

3 c chicken broth

1 beet chopped (from Open Oak CSA)

3 small carrots chopped (from Open Oak CSA)

1 c rio zape beans (from Lonesome Whistle CSA)

1/4 c pasta

1 bunch escarole chopped (from Open Oak CSA)

salt and pepper

grated cheese

Microwave onion powder, garlic, grape seed oil, and oregano for 30 second in the microwave. Transfer to slow cooker. Add in dry beans, beet, carrots, and chicken broth. Cook on high for 4 hours.

Add in pasta and escarole and cook for 30 minutes.