Thursday, March 1, 2012



Today is our first snow day here in Western Mass since October 30th. It is funny how as a teacher I am just as excited about a snow day as my kids. I really do not want to have too many this year because the October storm created such havoc that we missed several days due to power outages. 

I have spoken and tweeted with several people and it appears we are all making soup today. The perfect snow day food. I rarely get to do much cooking because of my crazy soccer mom schedule and my pathetic time management skills. So I thought I would share the recipe with you . 
Photo by um-um-good

I wanted to do something my husband would enjoy since he does most of the cooking at home. One of his favorites is Pasta Fagioli. I found this one at Food.com . It hopefully will taste like the one at "Olive Garden". Now if I could get the recipe for the  Red Rose Pizzeria in Springfield he would be super happy! 

About This Recipe

"This tastes exactly like the pasta e fagioli soup at the Olive Garden. Wonderful! Husband loves it!"

Ingredients

    • 2 lbs ground beef
    • 1 onions, chopped
    • 3 carrots, chopped
    • 4 stalks celery, chopped
    • 2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
    • 1 (16 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained
    • 1 (16 ounce) cans white kidney beans, drained
    • 3 (10 ounce) cans beef stock
    • 3 teaspoons oregano
    • 2 teaspoons pepper
    • 5 teaspoons parsley
    • 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)
    • 1 (20 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
    • 8 ounces pasta

Directions

  1. Brown beef in a skillet.
  2. Drain fat from beef and add to crock pot with everything except pasta.
  3. Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.
  4. During last 30 min on high or 1 hour on low, add pasta.