Photo by B. Kelly
Okay, my friends, whenever I make this for company, we have to explain that it's like the Olive Garden soup and it's pronounced "pasta fa-zuul." Not that you need to know how to pronounce the name to prepare or enjoy this, but it helps keep the homophobic cooking slurs down to a minimum. ;o)
Like all of my slow cooker recipes, I love the way the house smells when this is simmering away on the counter. I short cut this soup by using jar sauce. You could easily make it more frugal and vegetarian friendly by omitting the ground beef and changing the beef broth to vegetable broth. We love this any time of year, but it's a family favorite during the winter months. Peace, B.
Brown two pounds extra lean ground beef, one finely minced red onion, and two cloves of finely minced garlic. Drain.
While the ground beef is cooking,
add the following ingredients to a six quart crock pot:
one cup chopped carrots
3 stalks of chopped celery
1/2 of a package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed & well drained*
two 14.5 ounce cans of petite diced tomatoes
two cans of Great Northern or cannellini beans, drained**
six cups beef broth
one 26 ounce jar of spaghetti sauce
(My favorite is Ragu's 7 Herb Tomato, but use whatever you like.)
two teaspoons oregano
one tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
one bay leaf
Add the cooked ground beef and veggies to the crock pot. Give everything a good stir. Cook on low for seven hours. When the veggies are tender, add 8 ounces of ditali. (Ditali is a small pasta tube, but you could use whatever pasta you have on hand. Small shells or elbow macaroni work well too!) Cook for another hour on low.
I serve this with freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top and a good, crusty homemade Italian bread. This recipe feeds my family of five twice and is even better the second day.
* You could add the whole package if you'd like. My family complains about the amount of spinach if I use an entire package. I take the other half of the package and make dip because it's already thawed and drained.
**If you want to make this an even more frugal recipe, soak 16 ounces of beans overnight, drain them and add them to the crock pot in place of the canned beans.
Like all of my slow cooker recipes, I love the way the house smells when this is simmering away on the counter. I short cut this soup by using jar sauce. You could easily make it more frugal and vegetarian friendly by omitting the ground beef and changing the beef broth to vegetable broth. We love this any time of year, but it's a family favorite during the winter months. Peace, B.
Brown two pounds extra lean ground beef, one finely minced red onion, and two cloves of finely minced garlic. Drain.
While the ground beef is cooking,
add the following ingredients to a six quart crock pot:
one cup chopped carrots
3 stalks of chopped celery
1/2 of a package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed & well drained*
two 14.5 ounce cans of petite diced tomatoes
two cans of Great Northern or cannellini beans, drained**
six cups beef broth
one 26 ounce jar of spaghetti sauce
(My favorite is Ragu's 7 Herb Tomato, but use whatever you like.)
two teaspoons oregano
one tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
one bay leaf
Add the cooked ground beef and veggies to the crock pot. Give everything a good stir. Cook on low for seven hours. When the veggies are tender, add 8 ounces of ditali. (Ditali is a small pasta tube, but you could use whatever pasta you have on hand. Small shells or elbow macaroni work well too!) Cook for another hour on low.
I serve this with freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top and a good, crusty homemade Italian bread. This recipe feeds my family of five twice and is even better the second day.
* You could add the whole package if you'd like. My family complains about the amount of spinach if I use an entire package. I take the other half of the package and make dip because it's already thawed and drained.
**If you want to make this an even more frugal recipe, soak 16 ounces of beans overnight, drain them and add them to the crock pot in place of the canned beans.
