Finally, a home cooked meal

In the month of January, I went on a reduced take out diet to see how much it saves to refrain from eating out or ordering take out. The month is over and I have yet to review the numbers, but I know I cut back A LOT. However, in the new month, I'm already slipping. I've been buying our meals in the last 4 days in a row and It's been GEWD and FRESH and FRESH and GEWD!  My excuse is, we just haven't had time to cook or even prepare a meal.  We are so00 hungry by the time we head home that all we want to do is eat. Or its not even that we WANT to eat. By 6 oclock, we MUST eat in order to do the next thing we have to do. 

So finally, a day off. I finally made a home cooked meal. Here it is. 

Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli Soup in a Crock Pot (Copycat)

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef

1 onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undraine0d

1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained

1 (16 ounce) can white kidney beans, drained

3 (10 ounce) cans beef stock

3 teaspoons oregano

2 teaspoons pepper

5 teaspoons parsley

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)

1 (20 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce

8 ounces pasta

Directions:

1 Brown beef in a skillet.

2 Drain fat from beef and add to crock pot with everything except pasta.

3 Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.

4 During last 30 min on high or 1 hour on low, add pasta.

http://restaurant.food.com/recipe/olive-garden-pasta-e-fagioli-soup-in-a-crock-pot