Women at work and their tips, challenges, advice, complaints, and experiences

Looking for something fast, easy, and healthy to feed the family this bustling holiday week?  Give my new minestrone recipe a shot.  I took an old recipe we've enjoyed before and put a couple of little twists on it - I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!  Use lower sodium and organic ingredients where possible and you'll hit a lot of food groups with a tasty, healthy meal.

What You Need:

•  1 - 19 ounce can of ready-to-serve minestrone (we used Progresso's lower sodium brand)
• 1 - 15 ounce can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed well
• 1 - 11 ounce can of corn, drained and rinsed
• 1 - 14.5 ounce can of stewed tomatoes
• 1 - 4 ounce can of chopped green chilies
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (adjust to taste)
  
• 1/2 tsp onion powder (adjust to taste)
• 1 box Uncle Ben's Long Grain Brown & Wild Rice (with spice packet)

What To Do:

• Pour all ingredients into slow cooker EXCEPT for rice; stir together well.  Set to cook on low for 4 hours.
• At three and a half hours, carefully pour in rice and stir in well.  Sprinkle spice packet contents across stew - mix in. 
  
• Allow to cook for final 30 minutes of the 4 hour setting.
• Serve hot with biscuits or breadsticks and a side salad for a whole lot of healthy punch.  So easy and SO scrumptious!

What's your favorite quick and easy recipe from items in your pantry?  Be sure to share a recipe in the comments or leave a link to a recipe on your own blog or website!