Pasta Fagioli

I saw this post on Pennies on a Platter. She always has delicious things on her blog. This looked good and since the temperature was dropping today, I decided to make the soup.

It is a little time consuming with the chopping. I chopped the vegetables while the meat was browning. Otherwise, it was a very easy recipe. And, boy, was it yummy! It made a ton. I'm freezing some, taking some to work and to my mom.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 package sweet Italian sausage, casings removed

½ large (or 1 medium) onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 carrots, thinly sliced

4 stalks celery, thinly sliced

28 oz. can diced tomatoes1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can white cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

64 oz. beef broth

28 oz. can tomato sauce

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried basil (skipped - mine wasn't looking too good)

1 teaspoon salt

4 oz. small dry pasta (I used elbow noodles - 8 oz)

Directions:

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large stockpot over medium high heat, and brown the sausage, crumbling it as it cooks. Once brown, remove sausage from pot with a slotted spoon and discard any grease that remains in the pot.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the same pot, and add the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery, and saute over medium heat until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Add sausage back to the pot, add the can of diced tomatoes (do not drain), stir briefly, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in the beans, and add the beef broth and tomato sauce. Add in all of the seasonings, stir well, turn the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Once it boils, turn down to low heat, cover, and simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Add the dry pasta and continue to simmer on low for another 30 minutes. Serve with your favorite bread or crackers.