Hi Tammy,

The beef and beans are done simmering and the pasta is about to be made. I followed your recipe, but made these changes:

- I halved everything but the beans (I used 1 can black beans and 1 can great white northern beans, rinsed)

- I used about 6 baby carrots instead of a large one

- My onions had sprouted and needed to be tossed (cringe! I hate wasting food), so I added a bit of onion powder

- I don't have an Italian spice mixture, so I used 1/4 tsp each of parsley, basil, oregano, 1/4 tsp thyme, and a dash of sage

- My red pepper flakes aren't spicy so I added a dash of cayenne

- I added a bit of tomato paste since I used water instead of beef broth (Amore tomato paste which comes in a toothpaste-type squeeze bottle rocks!)

- I only added a few grinds of salt (maybe 4) instead of the 1.5 tsp you suggested and it's the right amount of salty for us (I also added 1 grind additional pepper). When serving, I added a bit more salt and stirred.

I am very happy with the results. This was the first recipe I've made from your website (this one was easy to convert to gluten-free) and it's great! Thanks, Tammy!

I plan on serving this with 1/2 the amount of Tinkyada brown rice gluten-free pasta (so 8 oz for a halved portion of beef and beans) since we like to use more sauce and less pasta.

Also, I used 90% lean ground beef, and no draining of fat/grease was required.

Thank you for the recipe and for answering my questions.

~Michelle

PS- This summer, when I am studying for the bar, I'll definitely keep this recipe in mind and freeze the other half for a quick meal! YAY!

I hate to bring down a rating when everyone else thought it was so cood, but this one didn't go over well at our place. I thought the bean mixuture was pretty flavorful and I'll finish off the leftovers just as a soup / chili, but it wasn't right on pasta for us - not saucy enough for us. I'm sure it was a healthy meal and for me I didn't mind it but it's not one that's probably going to be added to my collection. Sorry!

I made this for dinner a while ago, and it was delicious! It had a really unique and tasty flavor, and we really enjoyed it. One nice thing was that it made so much, so we were able to eat the leftovers for a couple of meals.

I've been wanting to try this for awhile but it makes so much and my husband is gone so I've been putting it off. Well, we had potluck at church today so I got to make it. It was delicious. I made one pound of the small tube pasta and just mixed it all together in one pot. It was very well received and I will definitly be making it again. We will actually be able to get 2 meals out of it which is the way I like to cook.

This was really easy to prepare. It smells so good as the sauce is simmering. It makes a huge amount so I halved the recipe. Next time I will make the whole recipe of sauce and freeze half of it for a busy day.

I realy liked this. We had it over macaroni; it was great. It had a neat flavor that was waaay better than any chili I'd ever had, though it looks/seems similar.

We make this as well, and my recipe is almost exactly the same except I have not tried adding sugar. I made some tonight, and added sugar, very good extra something! I also make this over rice with only a cup of tomatoes, and nutmeg and a little lime...carribean style.