Pasta Fagioli

Copycat Olive Garden recipe

Ingredients:
--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
--1 jar (16.5 oz) 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

Directions:
Use a 6 quart or large crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.

Brown the meat on the stove, 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. This soup freezes and reheats nicely.

Baked 4 Cheese Macaroni

From Pioneer Woman
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 lb Dry Elbow Macaroni
3 T Butter
3 T Flour
4 c Milk, Divided
1 lb Mixed Grated Cheese, Divided
6 oz, weight Crumbled Blue Cheese, Divided
1 t Salt
½ t Pepper
¼ t Cayenne Pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F.

Cook macaroni in boiling salted water. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

In a heavy saucepan over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the flour. Whisk together and cook for thirty seconds. Add 2 cups of the milk and whisk until smooth. Add another cup of the milk (reserving 1 cup) and continue to whisk. Cook for four minutes while whisking. The mixture will get very thick!

Add 12 ounces of the grated mixed cheese and stir well so that the cheese melts. Add the salt, pepper and cayenne followed by the remaining cup of milk and half of the blue cheese crumbles. Stir well.

Once everything is smooth, add the cooked macaroni and toss well. Pour into a 9″13″ casserole pan and top with the remaining grated cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Top with additional blue cheese and bake 10 minutes more, until golden brown and bubbling. Yummy!