Soup's On!

Do you ever get a craving that you just need to give in to? I'm a big believer in giving into cravings in moderation, and last week I was majorly craving Olive Garden's Pasta e Fagioli soup and garlic breadsticks. The only problem is that Olive Garden doesn't exist in Canada. I thought about asking Chris to drive me to Buffalo, but that just seemed plain silly (after thinking about it long enough)!

So, I did what any other good home cook would do and put my trust in google! Turns out this is a very popular soup to try to copy at home, there were tons of options out there, but the reviews on this one just seemed too good to not make it my first choice! All in all it turned out awesome. When I make it again (and you can bet the farm I will), I will wait until the soup is fully cooled before adding the noodles to store it. Those little noodles can suck up broth like no ones business!

Recipe adapted from Top Secret Recipes

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground beef

1 small onion diced

1 cup of shredded carrots

1 cup of diced celery

2 cloves garlic minced

1 large can (28 oz) of diced tomatoes

1 can kidney beans with liquid

1 can small white beans with liquid

1 can pasta sauce

2 small cans or 1 1/2 cups V8 juice

1 Tbsp white vinegar

11/2 tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 pound ditali pasta 

1. Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan over medium heat, drain off any remaining fat

2. Add in the onion, carrots, celery, carrots and garlic, saute for 10 minutes over medium heat

3.Add all remaining ingredients except the pasta, let simmer for an hour

4. Cook the pasta until al dente

To serve immediately, put some the amount of pasta of your choice in your bowl, add the remaining soup.

To store: cool the soup entirely in the fridge. Add in the pasta at that time so there is not chance of the soup further cooking the pasta, and less chance of your broth being sucked up!

Tomorrow I will be blogging about the garlic knots I made to accompany the soup. They were officially my first wildly successful bread item, so I was very proud and can't wait to share just how easy they are!