Recipe of the Week

Wagon Wheel Beef Soup

• Cooking Spray
• ¾ pound ground round
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 cups cooked wagon wheel pasta (about 3 cups uncooked)
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (26 oz.) jar of low-fat pasta sauce
• 1 (16 oz.) can red kidney beans, undrained
• 2 (14 oz.) cans less-sodium beef broth (such as Swanson)

Coat a Dutch oven with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add beef and onion; cook until beef is browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well, and return beef mixture to pan.

Add cooked pasta and remaining ingredients. Cook over medium-high heat until thoroughly heated.

Yields 8 servings of 1½ cups. Each serving is 3 WW Points.

Notes and pictures after the jump.

I prepared this recipe again today. The fat-free marinara sauce I was using was a bit light in the garlic department, so while browning the ground round, I threw in 2 thinly sliced cloves of garlic along with the onion.

The cooked pasta absorbed some of the broth, and I found that I ended up with 6 servings of 1½ cups.  I ate one for dinner, left one serving in the refrigerator, and froze the rest.

Here's a look at the ingredients.

Here's the soup ready to be served.

And here it is as served.

Bon Appétit!

Comments

[Alison]

Yum.

I think this will be a big hit with the chilluns.

[Dr Alice]

'Scuse.

I don't know how much wagon wheel pasta expands, but are you sure that 3 cups uncooked = 3 cups cooked? It's gotta expand somewhat.

(And what about angel hair? Linguini? Bow tie? My mind is spinning!)

[Allan]

This was how the recipe was written. The last time I made it, the wagon wheel didn't expand that much. It just an approximation, anyway.

I guess you could use any pasta you wanted. Some of the others might expand more, so you would have to use less dry pasta.

[Punctilious]

This looks like a good one to make for the spuds. I might try some of that shaped pasta. You know the seasonal stuff that looks like footballs and shamrocks. But would I have to change the name to bunnies and beef soup? And would that make the spuds more or less likely to eat it?

[Allan]

Are they into cowboys and Native Americans?

If so, I would stay with the wagon wheels.