My Pasta e Fagioli

I've been wanting to make a Pasta e Fagioli soup for awhile, but I was quite intimidated by most of the recipes I found. They looked wonderfully delicious, but they always had some ingredients that I wasn't so sure about. I decided to make my own version instead of following any one recipe, and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Pasta e Fagioli

1 lb. ground sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 c. beef broth
1 c. water
1 (15 oz) can butter beans, drained
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 tbs. Worchestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
seasoned with: parsley, thyme, basil, fresh ground pepper
1 cup small pasta (I used elbow macaroni)

Brown the sausage with the onions and garlic; drain fat. Add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the pasta and bring to a boil. Once a boil is reached, turn down the heat, cover, and simmer about a half an hour. Add the pasta, turn the heat up to return soup to a boil; then turn down to a simmer again until pasta is tender (about 6 minutes).

Note: The pasta soaks up a lot of the liquid, you may need to add more water or broth.

That's it, super easy, super hearty and great for a winter day.

Stuffed Soup

I hosted our family Christmas party last weekend. Traditionally, my grandmother always brought stuffed peppers and cabbage to Christmas Eve. Due to growing families, we no longer get together on Christmas Eve, so I decided to make stuffed peppers and cabbage for our Christmas party. As usual there was way too much food, and I ended up with a bunch of leftovers.

Fast forward to this morning. It's cold and snowy, and I wanted to make some kind of soup that would be hearty and warm. I wasn't feeling the usual chicken noodle, and I'd already made a few batches of beef barley this winter. I wanted to make something different, but needed to use ingredients on hand. That's when I spied the leftover stuffed peppers and cabbage. I was a little nervous, but it turned out fabulously! Here's the recipe:

Stuffed Soup

3-4 leftover stuffed peppers/cabbage, cut/mashed up, plus juice they were cooked in
4 cups stock or broth (I used turkey stock, chicken broth would be just fine as well)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
enough dry parsley to cover the top of the soup

Combine ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for about a hour or longer.

If you want a thicker soup, try adding about half a jar of tomato paste and bring to a boil.


I'm sorry I once again forgot to take a picture. I was so hungry and it looked so good, I just jumped right in.