Hearty Italian Soup

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground sausage
• 1 12 cups celery, sliced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, crushed (I use Christopher Ranch Brand)
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 26 ounces tomato and basil pasta sauce (or your preference)
• 2 (15 ounce) cans beef broth or 2 (15 ounce) cans vegetable broth
• 1 (29 ounce) can pinto beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained
• 1 cup carrot, shredded
• 8 ounces bow tie pasta, cooked
• 12 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 12 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons red bell pepper flakes

1. In frying pan, brown ground beef and pork sausage.
2. While in the process of browning meat, stir all other ingredients into the crock pot EXCEPT pasta.
3. After browning meat, drain and add to crock pot.
4. Cover and cook on high for about two hours until simmering well.
5. Turn heat to low and let cook for another 3-4 hours.
6. Approx 30 minutes before serving, cook pasta according to package directions, drain and add to crock pot.
7. NOTE: If you don't have shredded carrots, you can use the frozen crinkles -- just cut into little slivers and add to crock pot about the same time as adding the cooked pasta.
8. Also, play around with the spices according to your personal taste.
9. If at any time you think you need to add liquid for this to be "more soupy", just add another can of broth.
10. As I said, this was a total experiment and I think I just got lucky on the first time around.

ground beef, ground sausage, celery, garlic, tomato sauce, tomatoes, tomato, beef broth, pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, cannellini beans, carrot, pasta, thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary, pepper, red bell pepper

Taken from www.food.com/recipe/hearty-italian-soup-278314 (may not work)