Crockpot Cookoff....

One of my friend's daughter is in American Heritage Girls and they were having a Crockpot Cookoff to raise money for a food pantry. They invited us to come and when I told Logan about it, he was very excited. He wanted to make something, too! I do cook in my crockpot, but thought we'd look online and try something new. I looked on the Year of Slowcooking Blog and ran across a recipe that I thought Logan would like and he could do a large portion of the work, too.

Here is Logan serving his soup.


They had bags in front of each person where the people that came could drop tickets in if they wanted to vote for your dish. Logan watched as tickets were dropped in his bag and was really excited! Well.....

He won first place in his category. And his friend, Jackie, she won first place in her category, too! It was really fun and Logan is already talking about what he should make next year!

The soup was very good and we will make it again for sure!

Crockpot Pasta Fagioli
--1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
--1/2 large red onion, chopped
--1 cup carrots, chopped
--2 celery stalks, sliced
--2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (and juice)
--1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
--1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
--4 cups beef broth
--1 jar (16.5 oz) pasta sauce (I used 14 oz)
--2 tsp oregano
--1 T Tabasco sauce
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/4 tsp black pepper
--1/2 cup dry pasta, to add at end of cooking time


Use a 6 quart or larger crockpot, or cut the recipe in half. This makes a lot.

Brown the meat on the stovetop, and drain well. Let it cool a bit.

Chop up the carrots, onion, and celery. Add it to the empty crockpot.
Drain and rinse the beans, and add them. Add the whole cans of tomatoes, and the pasta sauce. Add the beef broth. Add the salt, pepper, oregano, and Tobasco sauce. Stir in your meat.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 (I cooked mine for 3). When the vegetables are tender, stir in the 1/2 cup of dry pasta.

Cover and cook for another hour on low, or until the pasta is tender. It will swell quite a bit.

Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese if you have it (we didn't take cheese with us, but did serve it with crusty French bread).