Pasta e Fagioli

I love the soup, salad and bread sticks at Olive Garden. I ALWAYS get the Pasta e Fagioli (basically Italian chili). So when I found this knock-off recipe that could be cooked in a crock pot, I knew I had hit the jackpot! This makes a TON of soup! But we like leftovers at our house, so that's a good thing. This recipe comes from food.com via google.

(photo courtesy of bakeddelish.blogspot.com via google images)

Pasta e Fagioli

2 lbs ground beef, browned and drained (I only used 1 lb.)

1 onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (16 ounce) can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I used another can of red kidney beans, or you can use cannolini beans)

3 (10 ounce) cans beef stock

3 teaspoons oregano

2 teaspoons pepper

5 teaspoons parsley (I left it out since I didn't have any)

1 teaspoon Tobasco (optional)

1 (20 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce

8 ounces pasta (any small pasta, I used a mini shell)

Dump everything EXCEPT pasta in a large crock pot and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. (I prepped everything the night before and cooked on high first thing in the morning so I could serve it for lunch.) Add the pasta the last 3o minutes on high and 1 hour on low.