Olive Garden Soup

We had lunch at Olive Garden and my daughter LOVED the soup, so I had to figure out how to make it. A little bit of research and this is what we came up with. It turned out nicely, if I do say so myself! And so easy if you have a cuisinart or some kind of food processor. Next time we'll try the crockpot, but here's the stovetop version:

2 lbs Hamburger
1/2 sm bag of baby carrots
4 celery stalks
1 med. yellow onion
2 cans tomatoes (chopped or stewed)
1 can kidney beans
1 can white beans
1 can black beans (or whatever you have:)
8 cups water
8 tsp granulated beef buillion (or use broth and skip the water)
15 oz spagetti sauce or up to 26 oz to taste
8 oz pasta (OG uses little salad noodles, I used bowtie)
spices to taste:
parsley
basil
oregano
pepper
parmesan cheese on top if desired

1. Brown Hamburger.
2. In lg stockpot, add hamburger, carrots, celery, onion and tomatoes. Simmer 10 min (med/med-low).
3. Add remaining ingredients and cook med/med-low for 45 min. until carrots are tender.

This makes a lg stockpot full of soup, so you can half it :)