Yesterday, Daphne and I had a play date after school, so I decided to try another slow cooker recipe. That way, dinner could magically cook itself all day and be ready when we got home. Whoever came up with this concept is my hero. Absolutely genius.
I decided to try a recipe for Pasta Fagioli that I found while browsing around the pinterest boards. There was no honey or brown sugar in the recipe this time, so I got Daphne excited about trying another new food by telling her we were going to make something really special: PAH-stah fah-JO-lee (said with a very bad fake Italian accent and wild stereotypical Italian hand gestures). I made her say it with me, hand gestures and all. It was very silly, but whatever works. Then I browned the meat and chopped the vegetables, and let her do the rest (rinse the beans and dump everything in the crock). She thinks she's a chef now.
When we got home from our play date, the house smelled amazing. I threw a head of garlic in the oven to roast, cooked the fusilli noodles, sliced up some Italian bread and dinner was ready.
Yum.
This soup was really good. Very flavorful, with just a little kick from the tabasco sauce. And Daphne ate a whole bowl, declaring that "next to Daddy's Famous Chicken Noodle Soup, this is the best soup I've ever had." She said she can't wait to have it again. Plus, it's just as much fun to say as it is to eat! PAH-stah fah-JO-lee!
You know what I'm thinking, don't you? I don't even need to say it. But I'm gonna say it anyway:
If they cook it, they will eat it. Almost every time.
Thank you, Kev, for my slow cooker. It has really changed mealtime at our house. Daphne has 14 Star Wars points for trying new foods. Fourteen new foods in less than a month is pretty much miraculous. Six more and she gets to watch Star Wars. Way to go, little Peanut. And, we're having a lot of fun cooking together. That makes me happy.
OK. The original recipe, from A Year of Slow Cooking, is below. I made a few changes, which I will tell you about at the end. This recipe makes a LOT of soup. I froze some, and there is probably still enough left in the fridge for at least two meals.
Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli
-1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
--1/2 large red onion, chopped
--1 cup carrots, chopped
--2 celery stalks, sliced
--2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice)
--1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
--1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
--4 cups beef broth (check label for gluten!)
--1 jar (26-ounce) pasta sauce
--2 tsp oregano
--1 T Tabasco sauce
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/4 tsp black pepper
--1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time
The Directions.
Use a 6 quart or larger crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.
Brown the meat on the stovetop, and drain well. Let it cool a bit.
Chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. Add it to the empty crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole cans of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef broth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and Tobasco sauce. Stir in your meat.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.
Cover and cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender. It will swell quite a bit.
Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese if you have it.
--1/2 large red onion, chopped
--1 cup carrots, chopped
--2 celery stalks, sliced
--2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice)
--1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
--1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
--4 cups beef broth (check label for gluten!)
--1 jar (26-ounce) pasta sauce
--2 tsp oregano
--1 T Tabasco sauce
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/4 tsp black pepper
--1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time
The Directions.
Use a 6 quart or larger crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.
Brown the meat on the stovetop, and drain well. Let it cool a bit.
Chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. Add it to the empty crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole cans of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef broth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and Tobasco sauce. Stir in your meat.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.
Cover and cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender. It will swell quite a bit.
Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese if you have it.
My Adaptations:
- I used a whole sweet onion instead of half a red onion
- I used 2 cans of tomato sauce because I don't like diced tomatoes
- I didn't have a big jar of pasta sauce so I used most of a small jar of Trader Joe's pizza sauce that I had in the fridge and needed to use up
- When I browned the meat, I salted it and added oregano. When it was almost done, I added some minced garlic and cooked it another minute or two
- I didn't add the pasta to the crock pot because I was worried it might get mushy. I cooked it on the stove to al dente, and added it to the soup at the very end. I cooked a whole box, and probably added half of it to the soup.
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