Pasta e Fagioli

I love soup. Natalie loved soup. This is a recipe that is supposedly close to Olive Garden's Pasta E Fagioli. It is super easy and the recipe says to use a crock pot. That will be wonderful on a cold snowy day but I didn't put that much fore thought into my menu today so I just made the exact same recipe on the stove top and it worked like a dream. Needless to say this recipe is just YUM!



Most of the ingredients I had in my food storage. I did have to buy a can a white beans but everything (except the onion, carrots, & celery) else came from my freezer and off my shelves. That is so cool!



After I browned the burger, (You might want to use more than the recipe calls for if you or those you live with are carnivores)I did as Rachel Ray says, put all the ingredients into the hottub and let them cook until the carrots and celery were almost tender. Then I added the pasta. I also added a little more pasta and a little water to off set the absorption. I didn't have any Tabasco sauce so I sprinkled in a very small amount (not even 1/8 tsp) of Cayenne pepper.




This soup is amazing and so so easy. I topped it off with shredded parmesean cheese and served it with biscuits. I would use French Bread or better yet, garlic bread next time. I will make this recipe again and again. It has become one of my new favorites in just one taste. I think it would be great in the crock pot but it worked just great on the stovetop. I hope you will try it and let us know if you like it or not.



Pasta Fagioli

--1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
--1/2 large red onion, chopped
--1 cup carrots, chopped
--2 celery stalks, sliced
--2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice)
--1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
--1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
--4 cups beef broth (check label for gluten!)
--1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce
--2 tsp oregano
--1 T Tabasco sauce
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/4 tsp black pepper
--1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time (I used TJ's brown rice fusilli)

The Directions.

Use a 6 quart or larger crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.

Brown the meat on the stovetop, and drain well. Let it cool a bit.

Chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. Add it to the empty crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole cans of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef broth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and Tobasco sauce. Stir in your meat.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.

Cover and cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender. It will swell quite a bit.

Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese if you have it