Ribbolita

This is a delicious soup that has many versions - the one I use is closest to the one Giada de Laurentis published on Food Network several years ago.  What do I change?

You can buy the pancetta pre-chopped.  I don't use the olive oil (or only 1-2 tsp).  What I do is put the pancetta in the pot, add about 1/2 cup of water and simmer.  That renders out some of  the fat so by the time the water evaporates you can brown the pancetta in its rendered fat. Take the browned pancetta out and saute the onions and carrots in the rendered fat (adding a little olive oil if you think you need it).  Add the garlic and follow the recipe more or less as written.  I also add extra veg, adding more onion and carrot (1-2 cups each) and two of the boxes of chopped spinach rather than a 1lb bag.  If you do that you'll need to up the chicken stock a bit, and canned is FINE.  To serve I don't pour it over a toasted cibatta, but rather usually cut a baguette into slices (or that cool new no-knead bread I just made), spray with olive oil and toast until browned, then rub them with a garlic clove as described for the cibatta. and serve them on the side.  But it's darn tasty w/o the bread and freezes well.
A couple of pics - I got none.  Just imagine.