Turkey Vegetable Soup

I saw this in the Taste of Home magazine and decided to fix it; I'm always looking for a way to change up my basic stew/soup recipes and I liked the fact that this used turkey (also helped that it has lots of vegetables and beans in it--very healthy!)

It was really a good recipe and everyone ate it well. I'll definitely make it again. I think the girls liked the small shell pasta; it kind of reminded me of pasta fagioli from Olive Garden. I served it with cornbread.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey

1 med onion, chopped

2 sm zucchini, quartered and sliced

1 lg carrot, cut into strips

3 cans beef broth

1 jar (26 oz) garden-style pasta sauce or meatless spaghetti sauce

1 can kidney beans, rinsed & drained

1 can great northern beans, rinsed & drained

1 can Italian diced tomatoes, undrained

1 TBS dried parsley flakes

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp hot pepper sauce (I omitted this!)

1 C uncooked small shell pasta

Directions:

In a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray, cook turkey and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add zucchini and carrot; cook and stir 1 minute longer. Stir in the broth, pasta sauce, beans, tomatoes, parsley, oregano, pepper (and hot pepper sauce, optional).
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Just before serving, stir in pasta.