CrockPot Pasta Fagioli

Friday was the first day of new recipes!!! Unfortunately my camera broke so I couldn't take pictures of our own dish, so I just used the pictures from the website where I got the recipe. I found it on one of the blogs I follow- A Year of Slow Cooking. It's actually an Olive Garden Recipe so I knew it had to be good! I LOVE using my CrockPot and smelling dinner cooking all day! And it's SO easy to make!
Ingredients:

--1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained (I used Laura's Lean Beef)
--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
--1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce
--2 tsp oregano
--1 T Tabasco sauce (I don't like spicy, so I didn't add Tabasco
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/4 tsp black pepper
--1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time ( I used whole wheat rotini)

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 Tabasco 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- I added approx a 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. I also toasted up a baguette to have some warm bread with it.

Reviews:

We really liked it! A good fall, hearty soup that will warm you up in no time! Brett said I should make it again (which means he liked it! haha) and I really enjoyed it! Very flavorful and pretty healthy too. I will definitely make it again!