Autumnal minestrone soup recipe

I'm not exaggerating when I say that this soup has been saving my life over the past month. Okay, okay that might be a slight exaggeration. BUT, it's been making my life a hell of a lot easier, and helped me fight off the god awful cold that plagued me at the start of September. I make this in a massive bulk, freeze it out and have it as my lunch at work. It's perfect because it's filling and healthy and I still haven't got sick of it. Sorta. 13 portions in and I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed.
Anywho, the recipe is what you're here for. This is a fab one for using up loose veggies that are on their way out that you don't want to throw away. If you've got any spare peppers, potatoes, spring onions, broccoli, anything really, then I'd whack that in too.
Ingredients (makes 6 servings): 
3 rashers of bacon (leave this out for a vegetarian version) 1 Spanish onion 1 leek 1 carrot 100g savoy cabbage 3 garlic cloves 100g brown pasta 800g (two tins) chopped tomatoes 400g (one tin) haricot beans 1 litre chicken stock (switch to vegetable stock for a vegetarian version)  Sea salt Black pepper Mixed herbs
Method
1.) Dice the onion, cut the bacon into 1cm squares, mince the garlic, cut the cabbage up into small squares and chop the leek & carrot into slices. 
2.) Now that everything is prepped, heat some olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, garlic and leek, and cook until the onion is translucent (should be 3-4 minutes).
3.) Add the carrot & bacon and cook for a further 3-4 minutes.
4.) Add the tomatoes, haricot beans and cabbage. Stir and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
5.) Add the hot stock, pasta and seasoning. Stir well. Cover with a lid and allow to simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

And you've got your soup all ready to go! It's so easy to make a vegan version too - you just leave the bacon out and switch to a veggie stock. This makes for such a comforting dish at this time of year, and is honestly very simple to make (and fairly hard to burn!). If you're starting out at uni and need something easy to bulk make and defrost when you're running out of your student loan, this is the way forward.
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