It is finally fall weather here in Nebraska! Well, for today anyway. Tomorrow it could be 90 or snowing–it’s Nebraska.
So I am taking advantage of the cooler weather and making soup, because I honestly could eat soup every day, but I usually wait for appropriate weather. When searching for a recipe, it had to meet certain criteria: farmer-approved, which means it needs to be hearty, kid-approved, which is always a gamble in this house, and EASY, because, well, with three kids I prefer not to spend too much time in the kitchen. Oh, and I LOVE when the meal happens to be healthy too;-)
So Pinterest turned up a win with this soup recipe, and I only tweaked a few things!
When you eat Pasta e Fagioli Soup (fagioli is Italian for “beans”) at The Olive Garden, they might use ground sausage instead of ground beef, but it’s good either way. I used beef to keep the soup a little lower in fat, and because everyone in my family (not just me, recovering from having a baby a few weeks ago) can benefit from the TEN vitamins and minerals that beef provides. I also left out the celery, because that’s something that no one in my family is crazy about.
So! Make this easy soup and tell me what you think!
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, chopped (equivalent to 1 cup)
- 1 large carrot, chopped (equivalent to 1 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
- 2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
- 1 can (15 ounces) beef broth
- 1 can (15 ounces) red kidney beans, with liquid
- 1 can (15 ounces) white kidney beans, with liquid
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 8 ounces ditalini pasta, precooked to al dente according to package directions
- In a large pot, over medium heat, cook the ground beef.
- Drain the liquid from the cooked beef (if any). If you use ground beef with a lower fat ratio then you will have little to no liquid to drain.
- Stir in the chopped onions, carrots, and minced garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, red and white kidney beans (with the liquid).
- Season with the salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and thyme and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- When the soup has 10 minutes left to simmer, cook the ditalini pasta in boiling water for 7 minutes or until a bit firmer than al dente. Do not over cook the pasta.
- Drain the pasta and stir it into the soup. Simmer for 10 more minutes.
- Keeps well in the refrigerator or in the freezer.
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