My Southern Mama's Italian Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1 cup sliced carrot
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic (or more)
• 1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes
• 15 ounces tomato sauce
• 15 ounces red kidney beans
• undrained
• 2 cups water
• 5 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 12 teaspoon dried oregano
• 12 teaspoon dried basil
• 14 teaspoon black pepper
• 12 cup small macaroni noodles
• salt
• SEE NOTE*
• freshly grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Brown beef in a large heavy kettle; drain.
2. Add all the ingredients except macaroni.
3. Bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add macaroni, bring to a boil again and simmer until vegetables are tender.
5. *At this point you'll want to taste for salt; the original recipe calls for 1 tsp but I think that's a bit too much.
6. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese before serving.