Hearty Beef, Pasta, and Spinach Minestrone

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)

Ingredients

• 1/2  pound  ground round
• 6  cups  water
• 1  (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added stewed tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 1  (4.4-ounce) package minestrone soup mix (such as Lipton's Kettle Creations)
• 1/2  cup  uncooked ditalini (very short tubular macaroni)
• 1  (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry

Preparation

Cook ground round in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until the meat is browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well, and return meat to pan. Stir in water, stewed tomatoes, and soup mix, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and sim-mer, uncovered, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in ditalini and chopped spinach, and simmer for 7 minutes or until the pasta is tender.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

281 (12% from fat)

Fat:

3.7g (sat 0.9g,mono 1g,poly 0.3g)

Protein:

22g

Carbohydrate:

40.4g

Fiber:

5.6g

Cholesterol:

32mg

Iron:

4.9mg

Sodium:

851mg

Calcium:

129mg