I cooked up my take on this recipe for dinner tonight and it was a roaring success. John suggested adding bacon so I fried up some of my dad's smoked bacon--diced to small bits--and added it towards the end. (We've been adding a bit of meat back into our diet here and there.)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter or oil of choice
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 1/2 cup asparagus, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 cup water
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 3/4 cup orzo pasta
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 1/3 cup black beans, canned
• 2-3 slices smoked bacon, diced (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat butter or oil in a pot over medium heat
2. Add onion and garlic (optionally smoked bacon can be added here), sauté until tender (~4 minutes)
3. Add carrots, asparagus and sauté (~4 minutes)
4. Add stock, water, orzo, tomatoes, thyme, basil and Italian seasoning and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
5. Reduce to medium-low heat and simmer (8-10 minutes)
6. Stir in spinach and black beans at the last minute
7. If you didn't add smoked bacon in step 2 but fried some up separately like I did, this is when to add it.
8. Season with salt and pepper to taste

Serves 3-4 people.