Pasta Fagoli Soup-Olive Garden copycat

This was posted from Jennfier Walker's blog-Smelling Coffee.

Pasta Fagoli Crockpot Soup
(Adapted from Olive Garden’s Copy-Cat recipe here)

• 1 lb ground beef, cooked & drained
  1/2 or 1 med onion, chopped & cooked with the ground beef
  2-3 carrots, sliced
  2 cans of diced tomatoes, undrained
  1 can of res kidney beans, drained
  1 can of white kidney beans, drained
  1 box of beef broth or stock
  3 tsp oregano
  3 tsp pepper
  5 tsp parsley
  1 jar of spaghetti sauce
• I box of pasta. (We used penne.)

Place all ingredients except pasta into the crockpot and mix well. Cook on high for 4-5 hours, or low for 7-8 hours. Add the UNCOOKED past the last 45 minutes. (That’s my favorite step… Don’t even need to boil the pasta & dirty up another pan!) I used a whole box this last time & it was on the verge of being too much. But since we like pasta, it was fine. Next time, I plan to cut back a bit.

That’s it! How easy! And even easier if you keep 1lb packages of cooked ground beef in your freezer. I always try to cook up a few extra pounds to freeze. If you don’t have the onions cooked with the meat, they will be just fine added straight into the crockpot. Y.U.M!

Serve with a salad & garlic bread & you’ll have a new family hit. 

Andrea's Notes:This would be an easy gift. Include all the canned items, stock, seasonings in a ziplock, the jar of spaghetti sauce and a box of noodles. You could also take a loaf of bread or rolls. Then all they have to do is add the meat, carrots and onions (which most cooks have on hand). Great Christmas or holiday gift for neighbors or friends who already have everything and you don't know what to get them. Food always works!!!