Pasta e Fagioli that's almost as good as Mom's

My mom was an amazing cook! Growing up, she'd make just about everything from scratch and it would be just perfect. Since she passed in 2001, I've been trying to find recipes for all her "regular" meals. While I've found (and perfected) my own recipes for pasta sauces, chicken soup, beef stew, and fried chicken, I hadn't found a good substitute for one of my favorite soups that she made all fall and winter - Pasta e Fagioli - until now.

1 lb. ground beef
1 C diced onion
1 C julienned carrot
1 C celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 (14-1/2 oz.) cans diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz.) can red kidney beans (with liquid)
1 (15 oz.) can great northern beans (with liquid)
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
12 oz. tomato soup (or you can substitute V8)
1 tsp. vinegar
1-1⁄2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1⁄2 tsp. pepper
1⁄2 tsp. thyme
1⁄2 lb. ditali pasta

Brown beef in a large stock pot over medium heat; drain off fat. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saute for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.

After 50 minutes, boil pasta to al dente. Drain well. Add pasta to the large pot of soup and simmer for 10 minutes.  

Homemade "Cream of" Soup Base

You know how most "quick" casseroles have cream of chicken/mushroom/whatever soup in them? I usually try to avoid using these canned soups because of the excess sodium, MSG, and other ingredients that I know my grandmothers wouldn't recognize. (BTW, that's my standard when buying canned or pre-made items. If there are ingredients that my grandmothers wouldn't recognize, I don't usually buy it.)

Anyway, I was reading the comments on a blog (sorry, I didn't write down the blog's name - bad MDG! lol) and someone posted a recipe for homemade "cream of" soups. You make the base, then add the flavoring you want/need. GENIUS! I'm going to have to give this a try.

HOMEMADE CREAM SOUP SUBSTITUTE
2 C instant nonfat dry milk
3/4 C cornstarch
1/4 C instant chicken bouillon
2 tsp dry onion flakes
1 tsp each basil and thyme
2 tsp pepper

Combine ingredients and mix well. Store in jar in cupboard. Makes the equivalent of 9 cans of soup.

To flavor: Add mushrooms, celery or onion when cooking to make whatever cream-of-soup you are replacing.

To make the equivalent of one can of soup, use 1/3 cup of the mix and 1.5 cups water and cook until thickened.