Wonderful Wednesday Wrecipes…..

Sorry about the lack of post-age. I’ve been helping out at the barn a LOT due to the barn owner’s rotator cuff surgery at the beginning of November. She’s started P.T., but it’ll be  while before she’s ready to toss 20+ bales of hay down from the loft.

The other lady helping out is there a lot, too, so I feel compelled to stay as long as she’s there, plus she’s riding one of the retired horses, and asks  several times a week if I’ll ride with her. So instead of my usual in-and-out in 90 minutes or less on any given evening, I’m there 2-1/2 hours or more, plus cleaning stalls for about 2 hours three mornings a week. By the time the weekend comes around, I just want to sack out on the couch. Blech. Plus my computer has been slow- I think I have to start taking old stuff off…

Anyway, I came across the soup thru this link from Edgar’s blog. I think it’s the best soup I’ve ever made- it was really hard to stop at one bowl! My recipe below is a tiny bit tweaked from the original, mainly by substituting turkey for beef.

Pasta E Fagioli Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey (or Shady Brook Farms 20.8 oz. package)
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can cannellini beans (or white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
• 1 (26 oz.) carton beef broth (or 3 cups)
• 1 jar (25 oz.) spaghetti sauce (I used about ¾ of jar)
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley (I used fresh because I had it on hand)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup uncooked ditalini pasta (or your favorite pasta shape)
• Salt, to taste (about ½ tbsp. kosher salt)

Directions:

1. Brown meat in a large skillet; drain excess fat & discard. Add to crock pot.
2. Drain & rinse both types of beans, and add to crock pot.
3. Add all other ingredients, except pasta, to crock pot and stir to combine.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4-5 hours.
5. My crock pot was too small (YIKES!) so I used a French oven (6-quart, I think), and cooked in the oven at 275 degrees for about 4 hours.
6. During the last 30 minutes of cooking time, add the pasta & stir.

You may want to have an additional can of broth on hand- the pasta will continue to absorb liquid as it sits leftover in the refrigerator. When you re-heat the soup, stir in a little additional broth.