Pasta E Fagioli Soup

 I found a recipe for Olive Gardens Pasta E Fagioli soup. We liked it and it was pretty easy:

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 small onion, finely diced

2 carrots, finely diced

2 stalks celery, finely diced

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can cannellini beans (or white kidney beans), drained and rinsed (I couldn't find cannellini beans so I just used two cans of the kidney beans)

1 (26 oz.) container beef stock (or 3 cups)

1 jar (25 oz.) spaghetti sauce

2 tsp. dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup uncooked ditalini pasta (or your favorite pasta shape) (I used Picolini pasta here since I couldn't find ditalini)

Salt, to taste (about ½ tbsp. kosher salt)

 

Directions:

Brown and crumble ground beef. Drain excess grease.

Add all the other ingredients to the slow cooker (except for pasta) and stir.

Set slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

During the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, add in the pasta and stir. 

Cooks Notes: Pasta likes to absorb a lot of the liquid so if you like your soup more soupy, be prepared to have an extra can of beef broth handy. You can add it towards the end.

Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken

This recipe is so easy and only has 4 ingredients which is my type of meal!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 package Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Mix cheese, dressing mix and garlic powder.
3. Moisten chicken breasts with water; coat with cheese mixture. Place in shallow baking dish.
4. Bake 20 to 25 min. or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.

I found it on pinterest but this is the website
It has such a great taste (if you like garlic, which I do). All my kids liked it.
Try it, its yummy!

The Hunger Games

Hey All,

I'm probably super far behind everyone, but I finally finished The Hunger Games series.

I LOVED this series... though I admit that the first and second books were better than the third. I had seen a preview for the movie coming out in March, and I thought I should read the books first so I had something to compare the movie to.

I burned through all three books in just a few days (which is really good, since I'm a terribly slow reader), and was overall impressed with the way it flowed. The books are written in present tense, which starts out tough for me, but I quickly forgot about it and it became more natural as I read through the series. Definitely a good one if you're looking for a book that is easy to read and intense at times. I'm giving it a 4 out of 5, just because the last book was slow-moving. :) Very good, though, for those of you who haven't read them yet!

Cindy