Warm & Yummy

Pasta e Fagioli

1 pound ground beef

Brown ground beef.

1 cup diced onion

1 large carrot, chopped finely

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

Add vegetables to beef and saute for 10 minutes or until vegetables just start to soften.

Then add:

2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes

1 15 oz. can kidney beans (w/ liquid)

1 15 oz. can great northern beans (w/ liquid)

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 12 oz. can V-8 juice

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. thyme

Cook for 1 hour over low heat.

Add:

1/2 pound ditali (or any small) pasta, cooked and drained.

Stir in pasta.  Serve.

jen’s notes:

This recipe makes a lot of soup.  Once I forgot to tell my sister that, and she made it (for herself and her husband); they ate it for a week, maybe longer!  But a lot of soup is just perfect, if you have teenage boys, a big family, or guests coming for dinner!  On the contrary, this soup is easy to double for a really large crowd, or you can make it just a bit bigger by adding some extra veggies and an extra can of tomatoes.

Usually I do a couple things to make the soup a bit more healthy:  use the super lean beef, use whole wheat pasta, & use low sodium (or no salt added) canned tomato products.  There’s lots of ingredients in this, but it is super easy to throw together and really filling!

My friend Ellen says this soup was even better the second day.  If you want to cook it ahead, I would recommend cooking the soup and pasta separately (just like the recipe says), storing them separately, then combining shortly before serving.  I have also frozen the soup (sans pasta), thawed it, added the pasta just before serving.  It was certainly good, though I like the texture a little better when it hasn’t been frozen.

Finally, this hearty Italian chili is great served with a bit of Parmesan cheeseon top and a green salad and some yummy bread on the side!

Hope you enjoy one of our family favorites!