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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Pasta & Fagioli Soup - Olive Garden-style by Mags

This is a clone of Olive Garden's yummy soup - and you can use your crock pot!
Here's the recipe
found here at RecipeZaar.

INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can red kidney beans, drained
1 can white kidney beans, drained
2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
3 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons pepper
5 teaspoons parsley
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 jar spaghetti sauce
8 ounces pasta - I used elbow macaroni

ASSEMBLY:
Brown beef in a skillet.

TO EAT TODAY:
Place all of the ingredients into a crock pot.
Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.

*The original recipe said to NOT add the pasta until the last 30 minutes (high heat) or 1 hour (low heat) except I missed that instruction and already had it mixed in. If you make it on your own, you can try it that way.

TO FREEZE FOR LATER:
Place all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the beef broth into a gallon-size Ziploc baggie (the broth won't fit). Freeze flat.

Serving Day:
Thaw and put in your crock pot.
Add beef broth and follow the cooking instructions above.

7 comments:

  1. I'm so glad I found this blog! I am starting a freezer group and this is such a huge help! Thank you!

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  2. Okay - so there may have been a reason not to mix in the pasta with the soup because in the crockpot, they do get a little mushy. But yours is already mixed in so either heat this soup up on the stove instead of the crockpot or just enjoy squishier-type noodles.

    Everyone loved the flavor of this in my house - perfect for a cold day. It's chunkier - like a stew or thick chili vs. a soup. If you wanted it runnier, you would add a third can of beef broth (but much broth would NOT fit in my crockpot!). We enjoyed this a lot - hope you all do too!
    :) Mags

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  3. Wow, this makes alot!! We had enough for 2 meals. It was great. I would definitely make the noodles separate and add at the end when everything else is cooked. All of my kids liked this, which is amazing. Thanks for a great meal.

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  4. Adults liked it. The kids fussed some, but ate it. It is thick and hearty which we like! Thanks for yummy soup!

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  5. Goodness. I don't know how we lost this one in the bottom of our freezer. I took this to St. Louis to enjoy with family. Everyone agreed to a big thumbs up!

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  6. We enjoyed this a lot - hope you all do too!

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