You can make this weeknight dinner vegan, vegetarian, or not depending on whether you garnish it with dairy cheese or use chicken stock instead of vegetable stock. Our dinner used what we had on hand, Parmesan cheese and chicken stock.

This is quite easy to make although there is quite a bit of chopping up of vegetables. The vegetables get par-cooked first and then finish cooking during the time it takes the ditalini (or any other small soup pasta) to cook. It needs quite a bit of salt so keep tasting and seasoning as you go along. We make ours to a stew-like consistency but just add more stock if you want it soupy.