Tag Archive | onions

Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup

Nov2
Pasta_e_Fagioli

Olive Garden’s Pasta e Fagioli

I love having lunch at Olive Garden with friends to enjoy their delicious soups and salad. Their Pasta e Fagioli soup (similar to minestrone) is one of my favorites so it was a fun challenge to recreate at home. I found some great copycat recipes online which I adapted a bit but the twist on the challenge was to recreate it for the crock pot. The result is truly phenomenal and is an exact flavor copy of Olive Garden’s version! I recently had a large group of friends over and served this recipe and they all agreed it was identical to Olive Garden’s soup. There also weren’t any leftovers…Boo!

Quick note: If you want to make a true copycat you’ll need to use the ditali pasta. However, it can be a little harder to find and is also more expensive so I usually swap it out for fusilli or another small pasta.

Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Serves 6-8

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 2 carrots, julienned or shredded
  • 4 stalks of celery, finely diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 (15 oz.) can red kidney beans
  • 1 (15 oz.) can great Northern beans
  • 2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
  • 1 (28 oz.) can tomato sauce
  • 1 (12 oz.) can V8 juice
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoons of Italian seasoning
  • 2 teaspoons parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

At the end:

  • 1/2 pound ditali pasta (you can also substitute with fusilli, macaroni, or any small pasta you like)
  • Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions: 

1. In a large skillet, brown the meat. Drain off the fat and transfer the cooked hamburger to the bottom of the crock pot.

photo

2. Pour the remaining items, except for the pasta and Parmesan cheese, over the hamburger.

Ingredients in crockpot

Stir everything together.

Stirred Together

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

Cooked Soup

3. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the dry pasta to the crock pot and stir to incorporate. Stir every ten minutes or so to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick and that it can absorb enough liquid.

Soup with pasta

4. Pour soup into bowls and garnish with Parmesan cheese and serve along garlic bread. Enjoy!

plated soup

Crock Pot Steak Stroganoff

Jun25

FinisheddIf you own a crock pot and are short on time then you’re going to love, love, love this recipe for easy Steak Stroganoff. I threw it together one morning when I was rushing to get out the door and had maybe 10 minutes to prep everything. I just dumped it all in my crock pot and flew out the door. When I came home that evening I was shocked and amazed at how good it turned out. When I say good, I mean really stinkin’ good! Tom kept saying over and over again, “Honey, this is amazing!” and all but licked his plate clean.
This is also a very economical meal! By using cube steak, a cheaper cut of meat, you save a bundle and the crock pot magically transforms this tougher cut of meat it into a melt-in-your-mouth delicious steak which your guests will swear was a Choice cut.

Crock Pot Steak Stroganoff
Serves 6-8

  • 2 pounds cube steak
  • 8 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 1 packet dry onion soup mix
  • 1 packet dry mushroom beef soup mix
  • 1 large can (26 ounce) cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 cup water
  • 3/4 cup sour cream

Instructions:

1. Place the steak in the bottom of the crock pot.

Raw Steak

2. Layer sliced onions and mushrooms on top of meat.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the dried soup mixes, cream of mushroom soup, and water. Pour over meat, mushrooms, and onions.

Sauce

 

Pour over meat

4. Turn on crock pot and set for 8 hours on Low or 4-5 hours on High.
5. When read to serve, turn off crock pot and stir in sour cream.

Finished

6. Serve over rice, boiled potatoes, or egg noodles. Enjoy!

Finished