When Six Servings Don't Make Sense

I love how Woman's Day serving sizes don't line up with my results--and that's because it's always to my advantage. I'm not sure how much a Woman's Day "serving" size would be, but what I do know is that their soup recipes last me for days upon days--well over a week more often than not.

Their minestrone would be no exception.

Minestrone predates the Roman Empire at a time when meat was scarce and residents would make a form of porridge called pulte, which consisted of spelt, water, and whatever vegetables were available. Having just finished Western Civilization class (with flying colors) I realize how much advancements like roads and global exchange affected the availability of food and how food became associated with class. Even in early America, foods have evolved. For instance, lobster used to be considered a meal for the poor.

As minestrone evolved, Wikipedia offers two theories of how our modern-day soup came to be:

"There are two schools of thought on when the recipe for minestrone became more formalized. One argues that in the 17th and 18th centuries minestrone emerged as a soup using exclusively fresh vegetables and was made for its own sake (meaning it no longer relied on left-overs), while the other school of thought argues that the dish had always been prepared exclusively with fresh vegetables for its own sake since the pre-Roman pulte, but the name minestrone lost its meaning of being made with left-overs."

Now, I cheated again and used frozen spinach and I have not used the ditalini pasta yet, but I do have plans for it. Pasta salad is like slaw: it's easy to make with what's in the ice box junk drawer and it makes a great side.

And I did make slaw with the leftover cabbage. But I used special vinegar I bought at The Olive Oil Taproom in Richmond, Virginia. It's one of my favorite food specialty stores because you realize the truth about olive oil and you're welcome to taste the difference. It's a tasting room for foodies. I used pineapple vinegar in my slaw along with other basic components. I consider slaw a salad--not just a topping for hot dogs--so I ate it the next day for lunch.

I gave away several normal sized servings of this soup. It lasted over a week. I had it for lunch. I had it for dinner. I snuck half a cup before bedtime. Crazy, ridiculous lasting of soup here.