Pasta E Fagioli soup

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1 med. onion, chopped

4 carrots, slivered

3 ribs celery, diced

1 24 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 can drained red kidney beans

6 cups beef stock

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 1/4 tsp. pepper

2 1/2 tsp. parsley

3/4 tsp. tobasco sauce

3 cups spaghetti sauce (any brand)

4 oz. ditalini pasta, cooked and drained

(Ditalini, or "little thimbles" is a small tubular pasta like a very short macaroni. If you can't find it in your store, macaroni can be used.)

Directions: Brown the ground beef in the oil in a soup pot. Drain if needed. Stir in carrots, onions, celery, and undrained tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Rinse and drain the kidney beans, then stir into the beef mixture. Stir in stock, oregano, pepper, parsley, and tabasco sauce. Simmer for 45 minutes until celery and carrots are tender. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and pasta.

My note: I found this recipe on PamperingBeki while surfing blogs the other day. Made it tonight for the guys, and it was a hit. Really easy too. Because I hate dirtying an extra pan unless absolutely necessary, near the end of the cooking time I just put the dried pasta into the soup, then when it was tender, I added the spaghetti sauce last. Oh, and I had some baby spinach, so I tossed that in at the end too. Even though I'm still full, I'm already looking forward to leftovers! :)

And check out Beki's blog. Today she had some awesome pictures of ornaments from her Etsy shop.