Soup Recipe

I had zucchini, I wanted soup, and when I don't follow a recipe all my soups taste the same because I just keep putting my "favorites" in. I knew Courtney (I refer to her a lot) had some delicious Olive Garden copycat recipe so I googled it (I would have called her but she was on some fabulous vacation that she won for being awesome). I found it on cdkitchen.com. Karl ate the soup and said, "This is the best meal you have made all month" and wisely followed up with, "And you have made a lot of good meals." Nice save.

Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli (the copycat)

Ready In: 30-60 minutes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoon Oil

1 pound Ground beef

6 ounces Onion; chopped

7 ounces Carrots; slivered

7 ounces Celery; diced (I used zucchini instead)

24 ounces Tomatoes; canned, diced

1 cup cooked Red Kidney beans (I used a whole can because I had no use for the extra 12 beans)

1 cup cooked White kidney beans (once again, the whole can)

44 ounces Beef stock

1 1/2 teaspoon Oregano

1 1/4 teaspoon Pepper

2 1/2 teaspoons Parsley; (fresh chopped)- (I used 1 t. dry because I didn't want to go to the store)3/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

24 ounces Spaghetti sauce

4 ounces dry pasta Shell macaroni; or other pasta (I used whole wheat)

Directions:Preparation: Saute beef in oil in large 10-qt. pot until beef starts to brown. Add onions, carrots, celery and tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse beans and add to the pot. Also add beef stock, oregano, pepper, Tabasco, spaghetti sauce, and noodles. Add chopped parsley. Simmer until celery and carrots are tender, about 45 minutes. Makes 4.5 qts. of soup.

**Just cut the recipe in 1/2 for smaller family needs! (Which is exactly what I did and posted it that way... It originally made a whopping 9 quarts!)