Recipe of the Week: Pasta e Fagioli

Soup weather has arrived, and that's a good thing - afternoon swim practices start this week, keeping us at the pool until 6 pm, four nights a week.   Soups, stews and slow cooker recipes will dominate our weeknight menu until sometime after the holidays.

I first sampled Pasta e Fagioli at Olive Garden and it is still my favorite when I opt for their soup-and-salad-and-breadsticks.  For the uninitiated, this soup's name means "pasta and beans" and is pronounced "pasta fa-ZHOOL."  Traditionally a meatless peasant stew, the modern renderings have introduced meat and tomatoes, making it a little more like American chili, but with a definite Italian twist.  This recipe is a copycat version of Olive Garden's and is incredibly easy to make with a few pantry staples.  It can be tailored to your preference for a spicy or mild taste (just choose hot, medium or mild Rotel) and leftovers reheat nicely. Serve with some good bread sticks, a little fresh-grated Parmesan cheese on top, and enjoy!

Pasta e Fagioli

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced (1-2 tablespoons)
1 can white beans (Canellini or Northern), drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 jar mushroom and pepper pasta sauce (any brand will work)
1 cup chicken broth
1 can Rotel tomatoes (mild, medium or hot - your choice)
1 cup celery, sliced
1 cup julienned carrots (I cheat and buy the bagged julienne or matchsticks)
3/4 cup uncooked ditalini or other small tube pasta

Directions:
In large stock pot, brown beef with onion; drain.  Add garlic, beans, pasta sauce, broth, tomatoes and celery.  Bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for an hour or until celery is tender.  Add carrots and continue simmering.  At the same time, cook pasta separately until al dente.  Drain and add pasta to soup just before serving, stirring through to mix well.

Additional notes:
Like most of my recipes, I've experimented with the scale and cooking methods for this soup.  I found it can easily be doubled for a crowd, and/or it can be prepared in a slow cooker (brown the beef and onion in a skillet, drain, then add everything to the crockpot and simmer on low for 4 hours, or high for 1-2 hours.)  The flavors meld better if it's made ahead and refrigerated overnight before reheating to serve, but the pasta can get mushy.  So if you're making it the night before serving, hold off on cooking the pasta until you're ready to reheat and serve, or at least keep the cooked pasta separate and add to the soup just before serving.

Happy soup-ing!

A whirlwind week

I knew it would be an all-out sprint this week, and so far, it has lived up to my expectations.  As a testament to the craziness, I filled up my gas tank last night for the third time in 6 days.  A trip to Knoxville and back last Thursday drained it once.  Then the usual back-and-forth twice to church on Sunday, to/from swim practice on Monday, roundtrip to Smyrna twice on Monday and twice again yesterday, in-town errands, and a trip to Brentwood for a swim meet yesterday...quickly added up to another 350 miles and drained the second tank.  Not to mention, I think I have spent more time behind the wheel this past week than I've spent in my bed sleeping!

On Sunday, we kicked off our 2nd annual School Supply Giveaway drive at Highland Heights.  The next 5 weeks will positively FLY by.  I am blessed to have the same co-leader heading it up with me again this year (she's otherwise known as my partner-in-crime) and we have many returning and new volunteers who want to be involved in the entire process.  One of my favorite expressions is John Heywood's "Many hands make light work."  Very, very true.  Plus it's just more fun to have so many people all pulling in the same direction.  We hope to provide supplies to at least 150 Rutherford county schoolchildren this year.

Today's activities involve watering plants (we've enjoyed several lightning storms over the past few days, but no rain), a dash to my beloved hair dresser for a quick touch-up, and all the last-minute to-do's to gather things I need for this weekend. (Stay tuned for a recap on how the weekend goes!)  Tomorrow morning starts with an oil change for the car, and then I'll be picking up a special something from the Painted Clay Studio.  (Yes, it's all very secretive, at least for now...)

At the rate I'm going, menu planning is out of the question for this week.  Last night, we finally got to grill and enjoy the flat-iron steak, which got pre-empted last week by the white water rafting excursion.  Dinners will be catch-as-catch-can until normalcy returns next week. (Insert insane laughter here.  Normalcy?  What IS that???) I did pull out my KitchenAid and made yummy Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies last night.  Not exactly gourmet cooking, but some hungry girls scarfed 'em down when they got back from their "secret devo" last night.  (A super-huge thanks to Wilber and Alison for all they do for our youth group at Highland.)

June is the dangerous season

It's the perfect storm for any gardener who also happens to be a bargain shopper.  The nurseries start slashing prices on their remaining spring perennials, just to move them out of the way so THEY don't have to water them all summer.  (That should be a clue right there.)  And I always have a few bare spots that need a little something, and an urge to fill them with something new and fun...and cheap.

So the markdowns beckon.  Sure, they're a little shopworn, lanky and in need of TLC, but they're cheap.  Dirt cheap.  Enticingly cheap....so I take a few (?) home with good intentions of planting and nursing them.  It's hot outside, and there's plenty of other things to do today, and tomorrow, and the day after that. Sometimes my "foundlings" sit in their pots, slowly declining until they're finally brown and crispy and they get pitched when fall cleanup time rolls around.  Or I actually do get them planted, but then forget my promise to water them and keep up with them all summer.  So when the frost comes, they go to that great compost heap in the sky, never to return.

I know all this, in my head and in my heart.  And yet I am fighting the urge to just go SEE what the nurseries have left in stock.  My optimistic side is telling the rest of me that this year can be different - this is the year I will keep them watered all summer.  Sigh... When will I learn my lesson?

In other news, I discovered that I do not care for whole-wheat sourdough bread.  The wheat and sourdough flavors fight each other and nobody wins.  Next time we'll try half white, half wheat.  But at least my sourdough starter got a much-needed feeding.  The honey-lime glaze on the salmon went over well with the men in the family; I thought it was okay, but not as good as the chili-lime sauce for chicken.  And my salmon grilling skills need some work - it always winds up just a little dry.  The only thing to do is just keep trying, I guess!  Today I've got a crockpot of Kim's baked beans going for a pre-Bunco picnic buffet.  It ought to be a fun night, and it'll keep me from moping around while the youngest is away at swim camp.  I hear-tell she's having a great time, although she hasn't called to tell me personally. See my lip quivering?  Hmmmm?

TGIF

Most weeks are actually fun cruising through, but occasionally I have a week I'm just really glad to put behind me. This one is shaping up to be one of those, so I'm truly grateful it's Friday. (It IS Friday, isn't it?)

Winter finally loosened its icy grip on the South, and we're back to daytime temperatures in the 40s and 50s. It seems almost balmy outside! I happily queued up with every other self-respecting 'boro resident to wash my car yesterday, and was very thankful for the new Super Speed Wash that opened near us, complete with free, unlimited vacuuming. The car is shiny outside and relatively clean inside - hooray!

The final BHS swim meet for 2009/2010 was last night, and our frosh swimmer did awesome, especially in her 100-meter breast stroke event, giving the upperclassmen a real run for their money. I also got to catch up with some friends in Lebanon, whose daughters also swim...it's hard to believe we all have kids in high school (and beyond) these days.

Tomorrow is our annual "reveal" meeting for the Highland Heights Secret Sisters (it was postponed last week due to the cold and snow that lingered.) Amy W. and Courtney D. have done an amazing job of getting members involved in this group, and it has grown and flourished under their super-organized and enthusiastic nurturing. I'm excited to find out who my secret sister has been; I know I have been blessed by her prayers and notes of encouragement throughout this past year. I'm also grateful for the opportunity I've had to get to know my "sister" better over this past year while thinking of her and praying for her and her sweet family.

I think I'll make the hot chicken salad (mine is pretty similar, but I add a bit of cream cheese, and use potato chips instead of corn flakes) that I was planning to carry last week. For dinner I'll try my hand at pan pizzas like these. My family loves pizza, and they say they like my homemade pizza, but I'm always looking for a better crust recipe. We'll see how this one goes.