Home Made "Spaghetti O's"
Or Alphabet Soup...
My kids had never had spaghetti O's before. It was a thing from my past that I always liked when I got it as a "treat". It was definitely not the normal fare at our house either. I recently came across a recipe that was billed as tomato alphabet soup. I decided to try it out - and it tasted really close to spaghetti O's. Added a few of my own special touches and my kids loved it - and keep asking for it. Time to share my tweaked recipe.
Ingredients:
Small Pasta Shapes (alphabet letters, O's, small shells, elbows, etc) - I usually use 1/2 lb of pasta, today I used a whole pound.
Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp - to taste
Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp - to taste
Dried Minced Onion
- 1 Tbsp - to taste
- 1 Tbsp - to taste
Basil - tsp or so - to taste
Oregano - tsp or so - to taste
Oregano - tsp or so - to taste
Black Pepper
- few turns of a grinder to taste
- few turns of a grinder to taste
dash of salt
1 can Tomato Sauce
(15oz)
(15oz)
4 - 6 cups chicken broth (or bouillon and water)
Shredded cheese for serving
Optional:
Make mini spoon-sized meat balls and cook in the soup until cooked through for an extra boost of protein.
Directions:
Get out a heavy bottomed sauce pan and heat on medium. Add in the olive oil until it's shimmery and then add the dry pasta - yes, dry. Toast it in the hot oil until it's nicely browned all over.It's kind of like starting to make a rice pilaf.
Once the pasta is nice and toasted, add in the seasonings - garlic, onion, basil, oregano, pepper and salt and cook until the seasonings are fragrant.
 |
| 7-8 cups of liquid with 1lb pasta |
Pour in the chicken broth, stir, and bring up to a boil (add the meat balls now if using).
For the meatballs I put 1 chicken breast cut up in my food processor and ground it then pulsed in some garlic, basil, oregano, dried minced onion, and pepper. Rolled it in small spoon-sized balls and put them in the soup while it was simmering.
Simmer until the noodles are tender and the meat balls are finished cooking, if you added them.
For the meatballs I put 1 chicken breast cut up in my food processor and ground it then pulsed in some garlic, basil, oregano, dried minced onion, and pepper. Rolled it in small spoon-sized balls and put them in the soup while it was simmering.
 |
| Almost Done! |
Simmer until the noodles are tender and the meat balls are finished cooking, if you added them.
Let the pasta thicken the soup/sauce until it's nice and thick. There will be very little liquid left when the soup is finished.
 |
| Time to eat! |
To make this taste closer to spaghetti O's puree some cooked carrot into the sauce - gives it the flavor you maybe looking for from the commercial product ;-)
Recap of the recipe all together...
Ingredients:
Olive Oil
Small Pasta Shapes (alphabet letters, O's, small shells, elbows, etc)
garlic powder - 1 tsp - to taste
minced onion - 1 Tbsp - to taste
basil - tsp or so - to taste
black pepper - few turns of a grinder to taste
dash of salt
1 can tomato sauce (15oz)
4 - 6 cups chicken broth (or bouillon and water)
Shredded cheese for serving
Optional:
Make mini spoon-sized meat balls and cook in the soup until cooked through for an extra boost of protein.
Directions:
Get out a heavy bottomed sauce pan and heat on medium. Add in the olive oil until it's shimmery and then add the dry pasta - yes, dry. Toast it in the hot oil until it's nicely browned all over. It's kind of like starting to make a rice pilaf.
Once the pasta is nice and toasted, add in the seasonings - garlic, onion, basil, pepper and salt and cook until the seasonings are fragrant.
TURN DOWN THE HEAT and empty the can of tomato sauce and continue to cook until the pasta has soaked up a lot of the sauce and it's slightly reduced and darker red in color.
Pour in the chicken broth, stir, and bring up to a boil (add the meat balls now if using). Simmer until the noodles are finished cooking through and the meat balls are finished, if you added them).
Serve with shredded cheese on top and maybe a dollop of sour cream - yum!
What brand of tomato sauce did you use?
ReplyDeleteKirkland Brand Organic Tomato Sauce. If you hover over the underlined text it will show you the specific brands I happened to use.
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