This one is pretty yummy. It is Pasta e Fagioli, a knockoff of the one at Olive Garden. Someone on a chat board recommended it, and pointed us all to this blog:
http://lacucinadilauren.blogspot.com/2008/12/pasta-e-fagioli.html
Here are the ingredients:
Cooking spray (I didn't use this because of the non-stick pan)
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1/2 of a small 1 lb. bag of baby carrots, chopped
5 stalks of celery, diced
2 (14.5 oz.) cans of diced tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (32 oz.) carton + 1 (14.5 oz.) can of beef broth (I also used an additional can of beef broth)
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 1/4 tsp pepper
2 1/2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped (I used dry)
3/4 tsp tabasco sauce
1 jar (1 lb. 10 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 cup dry small pasta (such as ditalini or elbow macaroni)
salt to taste
Yep, there are a lot of ingredients! This makes a ton of food. I'm gonna freeze some for later!
First, chop up your veggies. I like to cheat and use my food chopper.I cut the onion in half, then quarters. For this recipe I used about 2/3 of the onion and froze the rest for later.
Then brown the ground beef. Drain if necessary.
I like to add Johnny's seasoning to the beef. This seasoning is so tasty! Mmmmm...
Once browned, add in the onion, carrots. I like to cook the onions a bit with the beef to help the onions soak up the flavor.
Then add in the diced tomatoes. Simmer for ten minutes.
In a stock pot (You need a BIG one for this recipe. Mine wasn't big enough and I had to divide it into 2 pots while cooking)add beans, beef broth, oregano, pepper, parsley, Tabasco sauce and spaghetti sauce. I started this while the other pan was simmering. Simmer on low. Add the beef mixture once the ten minutes has passed and simmer on low until the carrots are almost tender. This will take about 30-45 minutes.
I took this opportunity to clean up most of my kitchen. It is impossible for me to keep it clean while I'm cooking. I try, but no luck. Notice how I'm not showing you my sink! :p
Add pasta to the pot and simmer on low for 15-30 minutes, until the pasta is just shy of al dente.
As the soup cools the pasta will plump up and abrorb the broth. We let it cool for about an hour. It was still really hot!
We liked this recipe. There are a few things that I would tweak to fit our personal tastes though. I think I would omit the oregano and add more pasta. I would probably cut the amount of beans to half also. This was a keeper though!
Easy directions for saving or printing. Just grab the ingredient list above:
Brown ground beef in oil. Drain if necessary.
Add onion, carrot, celery and diced tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes.
Add beans, beef broth, oregano, pepper, parsley, Tabasco sauce and spaghetti sauce.
Simmer soup on low for about 30-45 minutes until carrots are almost tender.
Add pasta to pot and simmer on low for about 15-30 minutes until pasta is just shy of al dente. As the soup cools, the pasta will absorb the broth. You can cook the pasta separate and add it to the soup after the soup has cooled.
Rather use the crockpot? Use this link:
http://busymomscookbook.blogspot.com/2009/02/crock-pot-pasta-fagioli-sooooooo-easy.html
