Pasta Fagioli

I have only had pasta fagioli from the Olive Garden and I happen to think it's yummy, so when I came across a recipe for the soup on facebook awhile back I made sure to hang on to it. With the below zero temperatures we've had lately, I figured it was the perfect time to try it out.

I'm posting the way I did it, which was mostly like the recipe I came across, just a few small changes. Beware though--this makes a lot of soup. It filled my 6.5 quart crockpot to the brim and the two of us got four dinners out of this plus a lunch.

Ingredients:
1.5 pounds ground beef
1 small chopped onion
3 chopped carrots
4 chopped celery stalks
2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can red kidney beans, drained
1 can white kidney beans, drained
2 14.5 oz cans beef broth
3 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp pepper (you may want to use less, as I could tell there was a lot of pepper)
3 tsp dried parsley
a few shakes of chili powder
a few shakes of garlic powder
20 oz spaghetti sauce
8 oz ditalini pasta

Brown the ground beef and drain the fat. Add everything into the crockpot except the pasta. Once everything is in the crockpot except the pasta, cover and cook on low 7-8 hours, or on high 4-5 hours. I cooked the first hour or so on high, and then turned to low for an additional six hours.
Once the soup is done and you're ready to serve, cook the pasta for about a minute or two less than the package directions and then add to soup. I would actually suggest adding to each bowl individually. Otherwise, the pasta continues to cook in the hot soup.

Enjoy!