I (heart) my crock pot, Part II

In honor of my beloved but old and worn-looking crock pot, here's another favorite recipe. It comes from allrecipes.com.

This recipe makes 20 servings, which would feed a small army (or Ken and me for weeks), so I par it down to make 4-5 servings. In other words, I cut everything by approximately 1/4.

Pasta e Fagioli

3 lbs. lean ground beef

1/2 c. olive oil

4 c. chopped onion

2 c. chopped celery

2 (4.5 oz.) jars minced garlic (I always use fresh garlic, 3-4 cloves)

1 t. coarsely ground black pepper

8 (14.5 oz) cans beef consommé (I use beef bouillon and water)

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 6 oz. can tomato paste (I use 1 T. tomato paste and freeze the remaining paste in 1 T. "globs" in a plastic bag for later use.)

2 1/2 t. dried thyme

2 1/2 t. dried basil

2 1/2 t. dried oregano

2 T. dried parsley

2 15 oz. cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 c. ditalini pasta

1. In fry pan, cook beef, onions, celery, and garlic until beef is no longer pink.

2. Put beef mixture into crock pot.

3. Add pepper, beef bouillon, water, tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, basil, oregano, parsley and kidney beans. Stir.

4. Set crock pot to low. Cook for 6 hours.

5. Stir in pasta and cook on high for 30 minutes or until pasta is al dente.

Enjoy!