Pitch black dark and the wind was howling..........

that's what it was like when I got up Monday morning.  Now the sun did get out later and it was a nice fall/autumn day, but that was a reminder that November is upon us.  We have had the heating on now for less than a week, so we have had a great fall so far.  Now to knuckle down to get ready for winter.  So I decided that a Beef and Pasta Stoup was on the cards for Monday's supper.  A "stoup" is part stew, part soup and all around comforting and warming on a cool day.  I made up my own recipe and if you want to have an idea of what to do here you are:

Beef and Pasta Stoup

Ingredients:

1/2 to 1 lb of ground beef, whatever you have on hand....
Large can diced or whole tomatoes.  Mine had no salt but Italian Spices in it.
Garlic, I used a heaped teaspoon of pureed garlic
1 large onion diced, I only had a small one, so used dried onion flakes as well
1 bell pepper (not on photo) diced
2 tablespoons (or two ice cube size) of tomato paste (not shown on photo)
Worcestershire Sauce, a big splash
2 Oxo cubes or Oxo granule packages
Seasonings to taste, I used black pepper only because the Oxo is salty
1 cup of uncooked pasta.  Now normally I would use Macaroni, but I picked up that package of pasta for 25 cents.

I have never seen this type of pasta before, it looks like giant rice, but it is pasta.  I used a cup which as per the instructions is 2 1/2 portions?

To make:

Brown ground beef in a pan until no pink showing; I also soften onion and red pepper at the same time as I am lazy, so this will take a good five minutes.  Drain away excess fat/liquid.  HANDY TIP HERE: I POUR A KETTLE OF BOILING WATER OVER MEAT/VEGGIE MIXTURE IN COLANDER AS IT GETS RID OF MORE FAT.

Put meat and veggies back in pan and add garlic, "W" sauce, Oxo, tomato paste and any other seasonings you choose and stir over high heat for a minute.  Add tomatoes and rinse out can and dump that can of water in pan and bring to boil.

When boiling add in pasta and simmer for 15 minutes.

At this point taste and adjust seasoning to your taste.  Also add more water if you think it is too "thick."

There are no hard or fast rules to making this.  You could add in more veggies, less meat, add odds and ends of pasta or rice, or any other grains you have on hand.  Add different spices, the variations are endless.  The more extras you add in the further it will go.

I ended up adding some frozen veggies that I found languishing in the bottom of my freezer to bulk it up a bit and to make it more of a rounded meal.