Eggplant Supper Soup

Chop the onion and dice the garlic.

In a large pot, add the olive oil and butter. Turn the heat to medium and add the onion and garlic. Sauté the onion and garlic for about 4 minutes.

Add the lean ground beef and cook it with the onions and garlic. (If your ground beef has a bit more fat in it than the lean version does, cook the beef separately in a skillet. After it’s cooked, set it on a paper towel to drain off the fat. Then add the cooked ground beef to the onion and garlic mixture.)

While the ground beef is cooking, cut the skin off the eggplant. Then dice the eggplant into about 1-inch squares.

Add all but the macaroni, parsley. and parmesan cheese to the pot. Cover, and simmer over low heat for 50 minutes. The eggplant should start to turn translucent.

Add the uncooked macaroni and the parsley. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

Garnish each serving bowl of the supper soup with about 1 teaspoon of grated parmesan cheese and some chopped fresh parsley.