• 1 cup small pasta shells
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 small bulb garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp. dried rosemary or 2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary
  • 1/2 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 1 - 11.5 oz. can tomato juice
  • 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup Bella Sun luci julienne Cut Sun Dried Tomatoes in oil, drained
  • 2 - 16 oz. cans navy beans, drained & rinsed
  • 3 oz baby spinach
  • Salt and peper to taste

Happy Monday folks! I’m excited for this week and let me tell you why… This is the fist time that I’ve done a themed week and I’ve got a week full of savory recipes in store for you that all include sun-dried tomatoes.  Even more exciting is that I’ll be giving away a variety pack of sun-dried tomatos from Bella Sun Luci. They were so kind to send me a variety of different sun-dried tomato products to cook with and I couldn’t just choose one for a recipe so I made multiple things for you. (Giveaway is now closed)

Today I’m serving up a delicious Italian white bean soup that’s low in calories and fat and full of flavor. Be sure to keep reading through the remainder of this post to learn how you can win a variety pack for yourself!

Start by heating the olive oil in a large pot. Add in the onion, garlic, rosemary and red pepper flakes. Saute over medium heat from 5-8 minutes. While the onions are cooking, cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

Add into the pot the tomato juice, 3 cups of water, balsamic vinegar, tomatoes and 1/2 of the beans.  Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove the cover and using a stick blender, lightly puree the soup for 2-3 minutes.  Add in the remainder of the beans, the cooked noodles and spinach and heat thoroughly.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and then serve.

Italian White bean soup

And now for the giveaway! Bella Sun Luci is giving one of my readers a variety pack of their sun-dried tomato products.  In the comments below, visit the Bella Sun Luci website and tell me what product you’d most like to try. (Giveaway is now closed)

Congrats to Georgiana for winning the Bella Sun Luci variety pack!

Bella Sun Luci

Bonus Entries – (must leave a separate comment for each entry to count)

- Follow Food n’ Focus on Facebook

- Follow Bella Sun Luci on Facebook

- Follow Food n’ Focus on Twitter

- Follow Bella Sun Luci on Twitter

- Tweet the following, ‘I want to #win a @bellasunluci variety pack from @foodnfocus http://wp.me/p2Fk52-z4’

Giveaway will end on October 14, 2012 at 11:59pm PST. Contest open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to respond. If they do not respond, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!