Soup's On

Copycat Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
Recipe has been adapted from cookingclassy.com

Cook's notes: Take the chill out of the air and warm up with a bowl of soup. It's hearty and filling with lots of veggies and a good amount of protein from the sausage or beef and the beans, I love the delicious Italian flavor and also the addition of pasta to keep it filling – which makes it seem like a full on main dish and not just a soup. After one bite this will be your go-to Pasta e Fagoli soup!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef or mild Italian sausage (I used Italian sausage)
• 2 TB. olive oil, divided
• 1 cup  each sweet onion, minced, diced carrots and celery 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 TB.)
• 1  (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans low sodium chicken broth, beef broth or combination of both
• 1 (15 oz.) can diced chunky tomatoes, garlic, basil
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning 
• 2 cup dry ditalini pasta or tri-colot spiral pasta
• 1 (15 oz.) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz.) can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• Finely shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions:

• Heat 1 TB. olive oil in a large non-stick soup pot over medium high heat, crumble in ground beef or sausage and cook, stirring occasionally until cooked through. Drain fat and transfer meat to a food processor to crumble more if needed. Set meat aside.  
• Heat remaining tablespoon olive oil in the same large soup pot. Add in onions, carrots, and celery,cook over medium heat until tender about 6 minutes, stir occassionally. Add in garlic and saute 1 minute longer. Reduce heat to low, adding in tomato sauce, chicken or beef broth, canned tomatoes, sugar, spices and cooked meat. Cover with lid and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, until veggies are soft, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile prepare pasta according to directions on package in a separate pan, cooking to al dente.
• Add cooked and drained pasta to soup along with kidney beans and great northern beans. Thin with a little water if desired. Cook 10 minutes longer. Serve warm with grated Romano or Parmesan cheese.

Cooking tip: If you don't plan on eating all of the soup right away I recommend adding the cooked pasta to individual servings. Then whatever is left over you can add the pasta to that the next day. Otherwise the pasta gets really soggy and soup doesn't have enough liquid.

WAIT! there's more don't forget to add some citrus to brighten up your meal. Here are three choices.