Menu Plan Monday and Recipe for Italian Soup

Last week didn’t go exactly as planned – things got crazy busy! So we’ll be having our salmon this week.

Menu Plan

Dinners:
Sunday – Italian Soup with garlic bread sticks (see below)
Monday – Chicken with Shallots
Tuesday – Salmon with Primordial Ooze
Wednesday – Salmon Salad
Thursday – Something from the freezer
Friday – Kids at their dad’s
Saturday – Kids at their dad’s

Breakfasts:
Farina, oatmeal, smoothies, cold cereal

Lunches:
Quesadillas, PB&J, eggs in hats, beans and wienies

Years and years ago, I’d had a soup at an Italian restaurant that I was enchanted with, and so I tried to duplicate it at home. This is when I was first married, and it took over a year to get back to that restaurant. In that time, my recipe had morphed into something that didn’t taste a thing like the restaurant’s soup, but it was a big favorite in our house (and still is).

Italian Soup

Italian Soup

1 pound ground beef
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 quart beef broth
1 quart chicken broth
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 cans red kidney beans
1 can cannellini beans
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons freeze-dried basil*
2 teaspoons marjoram
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 pound elbow noodles
Parmesan cheese

Brown the ground beef and drain. Add the garlic and cook gently until the garlic is translucent. Add the broths, the tomatoes, the beans, and the spices.  Salt and pepper to taste, and then simmer for at least half an hour. A couple of hours will make for an even tastier soup. About 10 minutes before serving, turn the heat up to a slow boil and add the pasta. Cook until the pasta is done, and then return to a simmer.  Serve with parmesan cheese on each serving.

* I use freeze-dried basil from here (although my local grocery store carries it), and I love it. I’d love to use fresh all the time, but it’s too expensive, and I seem to not be a green thumb when it comes to indoor potted herbs. You can use regular dried basil, if you want, but I highly recommend the freeze-dried stuff.

I also serve this with breadsticks that I make from the same recipe as my hoagie rolls – I just shape the bread differently and just after it comes out of the oven, I brush each breadstick with butter and sprinkle it with garlic salt.

It freezes well, although the pasta gets a little mushy after freezing.

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