White "Minestrone" with Mushrooms

Serves 12 first course or 6 main course
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 swirl of olive oil (1 1/2 teaspoons)
sea salt
1 bag Bella mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, sliced
2 cartons (64 oz.) of Imagine 'No-Chicken Broth'
1 zucchini, chopped
1/2 yellow squash, chopped
25 oz. garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup couscous
3 cups spinach, chopped

Saute: onion and garlic in olive oil in a pan over medium heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt to sweat the onion and garlic and make them brown faster.

Add mushrooms and saute for 5 more minutes.
Set aside till later. [Or, do the steps above and below simultaneously in two different pots - get wild!]

Boil carrots in 'No-Chicken Broth' in a large pot over medium heat for 5 minutes or until carrots are partially cooked. [Like they are thinking about being tender. Always start with your hard veggies first. They take the longest to cook.] Reduce heat to medium.
Add zucchini, yellow squash, and beans. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
Turn off heat. Add couscous and the onion/mushroom mixture and cover for 5 minutes.
Add spinach and stir. Serve immediately or the couscous with thicken your soup.
The couscous turns your soup into gelatinous goo overnight. Unless you are trying to make what looks like an aspic.