Hearty Goulash Soup With Tomato Crostini

Ingredients

• Hearty Goulash Soup
• olive-oil cooking spray
• 2 cups frozen pepper stir-fry (½ package) (contains sliced green/red/yellow peppers and onions)
• 1 cup frozen seasoning blend (½ package) (contains diced onions, green/red peppers, celery and parsley)
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 pound 93% lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon beef base
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 (14 ½-ounce) cans diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 2 cans water
• 2 cups refrigerated diced potatoes with onions
• 1 (14-ounce) can beef broth
• 4 ounces elbow macaroni (½ box)
• Tomato Crostini
• 1 Bakery baguette
• olive-oil cooking spray
• 8 teaspoons sun-dried tomato sauce

Cooking sequence

1. Prepare soup through step 5 - 20 minutes
2. Prepare crostini; complete soup; serve - 10 minutes

Hearty Goulash Soup

1. Preheat large saucepan on high for 1-2 minutes.
2. Spray saucepan with cooking spray. Add stir-fry and seasoning blend; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Using garlic press, crush garlic cloves into saucepan. Use knife to scrape garlic from bottom of garlic press.
4. Add ground beef, beef base, Italian seasoning, pepper and paprika to stir-fry. Cook 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently until meat is brown, breaking meat up as it cooks.
5. Stir in tomatoes, water, potatoes, broth and pasta. Cover and bring to boil. Boil 5 minutes.
6. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 10 minutes. Serve.

Tomato Crostini

1. Place oven rack 6 inches from broiler, then preheat oven on broil.
2. Cut baguette into 8 slices and place on baking sheet.
3. Coat top of bread with cooking spray. Spread 1 teaspoon tomato pesto on each slice.
4. Broil 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Serve.