Zuppa!

Ever since the early dating days, Mark and I have loved to go to Olive Garden for the Pasta E Fagioli soup. We've always wanted to try to recreate the soup at home. Our newsletter at work runs a recipe each month, and last month's was a recipe for Pasta E Fagioli in the crock pot. We gave it a try, and it rocked! It was a little thicker than the OG version, but just as good.

You will need:
2 lbs ground beef (I actually cut it back to one pound to make it more soupy)
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (16 oz) can red kidney beans, drained
1 (16 oz) can white kidney beans, drained
3 (10 oz) cans beef stock
3 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons pepper
5 teaspoons parsley
1 teaspoon tabasco sauce
1 (20 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
8 ounces pasta

Brown the ground beef, drain, and add to the crock pot with everything but the pasta. Cook all day on low. Boil the pasta for 10 minutes or so, drain, and add to the soup. Enjoy!

Warning: this makes an insane amount of soup. We have a rather large crock pot, and it fills it to the rim. But oh....is it good. We add a little red pepper to it as well, for that extra kick.