My Pasta E Fagioli Soup

This recipe was adapted from a Copycat website with the help of a very sweet Italian Grandma. She was not happy with the listed ingredients, and voiced loudly until her changes were made. LOL. It is a wonderful soup! You could freeze some/all of this before adding the pasta. This makes a LOT.

• Ready In: 1 hr 40 mins
• Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1  lb lean ground beef
• 1  cup  diced onion
• 1  cup  diced carrot
• 1  cup  diced celery
• 6  minced garlic cloves (or more)
• 29  ounces diced tomatoes, canned
• 15  ounces red kidney beans, canned
• 15  ounces great northern beans, canned
• 15  ounces tomato sauce
• 2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
• 1  dash soy sauce
• 1  dash Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 1  teaspoon oregano
• 1  teaspoon basil
• 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
• 1⁄2 lb  ditalini or 1⁄2 lb  other small shell pasta

Directions

1. Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat.
2. Drain off most of the fat.
3. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saute for 10 minutes.
4. Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.
5. About 50 minutes into simmer time, cook the pasta in 1 1/2 to 2 quarts of boiling water over high heat.
6. Cook for 10 minutes or just until past is al dente, or slightly tough; drain.
7. Add the pasta to the large pot of soup.
8. Simmer for 5-10 minutes and serve.