Overly Ambitious - Packed Lunch Edition

I've been eating the worst things for the past couple of. One reason is that I hadn't been able to get to the supermarket in weeks. I also had gotten way too close to my credit card limit and didn't have much leeway for food when there was a new collection at Ann Taylor Loft. I have a problem. Anyway, I had been coming across so many recipes on StumbleUpon and Pinterest that I collected a couple before heading to the supermarket and decided to challenge myself.
This week, I've decided to pack myself Pasta Fagioli for lunch. I could make it in bulk, store it in the fridge, and eat it for days without having to make myself another soggy turkey sandwich. I stole the recipe from A Nut in a Nutshell and altered it a bit to delete what I completely forgot to pick up at the market.

Ingredients:
1 lb stew beef chopped into 1/2″ pieces
1 cup onion, diced
1 large carrot, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 tbs minced garlic
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 15-oz can light red kidney beans
1 15-oz can great northern beans
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 cup water
3 cups V8 juice (about 5 small cans - regular or spicy)
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 lb ditalini


1) Brown beef using a little bit of oil. Once browned, place in a large stockpot but don't pour out the drippings. It's also probably a good idea to remove the pan from the heat if you haven't finished chopping the vegetables yet. I mean, it's not like I completely burned the drippings and had to saute the veggies in oil or anything.

 2. Chop the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic. I'm not quite sure how one "dices" an onion, but I'm pretty sure this isn't it.

 3) Saute the chopped veggies in the drippings about 7-10 minutes or until you've opened all of the cans you're about to pour into the pot.

 4) Add the veggies to the stockpot and pour in all of the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the pasta

5) Bring the pot to a slight boil, then turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 1 hour. When you have about 10 minutes left, start cooking your pasta

6) Drain the pasta, add it to the soup, and then let it simmer for 10 more minutes. Then, Voila! You have Pasta Fagioli! 

It was tasty, but I will admit that it wasn't as good as my grandmothers. I sincerely doubt that she uses V8 in her recipe though

Just to give you an idea of how much soup this makes, these are my two pint sized mason jars that I packed for school with the rest of the soup. I can guarantee that a lot of this will end up being thrown out, which is a shame but I would rather not have my stomach explode.

I don't know when the next chance I will get to update is since my teacher is going to be absent this week and I am going to have a lot of prep work to do. When I do update, you will get to see my brilliant lessons on fabric. Get excited.
Until next time!


-Laura ♥