Pasta e Fagioli, minus the Pasta

Whenever I eat Pasta e Fagioli soup at Olive Garden, i always eat around the pasta. I just don't really like pasta in soup. So when I decided to make Pasta e Fagioli, I left out the pasta. I based this recipe on Pasta e Fagioli a la Chez Ivano at Allrecipes.

Pasta e Fagioli, minus the Pasta
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
64 oz beef broth
2 cans diced tomatoes
8 oz tomato sauce
2 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
2 1/2 tsp dried basil
2 1/2 tsp dried oregano
6 tablespoons dried minced onions
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 can kidney beans
1 can Great Northern Beans

Brown and drain ground beef. Combine ground beef and all other ingredients into crock-pot, cook on high for 4 hrs

If you like pasta in your Pasta e Fagioli, I think you can cook the pasta (original recipe calls for 2 cups, but that sounds like a lot to me!) and then add it in maybe the last half hour or so. You wouldn't want it in the crock-pot the whole time or it would probably get mushy.

The only ingredient that I'm not sure you can buy at Aldi is Parsley. I usually get my spices as Costco because I use them quite a bit when I make spaghetti sauce. But I have bought the Italian Seasoning, Basil and Oregano at Aldi...I just use sooo much of the Parsley in the sauce that I need a big container!