Back in September (2015) I went to visit my cousin Stacey and we had a fun “Cousin’s Craft Weekend” together with our other cousin Donita. 🙂

We took this selfie while we were together (I’m in the black blouse on the right, Stacey is in the middle, and Donita is in the black and white blouse on the left) :

We had a wonderful weekend together and were quite productive.  Stacey contributed to my Blog and wrote two posts describing the Deco Mesh Halloween Ruffled Wreath

*And* the matching Deco Mesh Halloween Garland that she created…

 *And* I wrote a post describing the Grapevine Fall Wreath that I created while we were all together.

In addition, Stacey cooked us some wonderful meals! One of my favorites was her Pasta Fagioli, (it tastes just like Olive Garden’s recipe…she found a great “copycat” recipe here).  It has become one of my very favorite comfort foods and it turns out perfectly every single time I make it.  I’ve only been making this since last September, but, it has definitely become one of my “tried and true” recipes. 🙂  **Thanks Stacey** ❤

I made it this evening for dinner, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 small onion, diced (1 cup)
• 1 large carrot, julienned (1 cup)
• 3 stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 15-ounce can red kidney beans (with liquid)
• 1 15-ounce can great northern beans (with liquid)
• 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 12-ounce can v-8 juice
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 pound (1/2 pkg.) ditalini pasta

Instructions:

• Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Drain off most of the  fat
• Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic, sauté for 10 minutes
• Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer 1 hour
• Stacey and I both cook the pasta separately and let folks add as much as they’d like to their soup (we feel as if the pasta gets too soft if added to the soup while it is cooking)
• Serve with Italian bread sticks, bread, or rolls–whatever is your favorite

My goodness gracious, it is so good!  And it isn’t all that fattening btw…about 400 calories for a bowl.  I do not feel guilty at all for enjoying one bowl of this luscious soup…yum!

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn