This is very close to our old standby "Quick Hamburger Soup" recipe. I increase the meat to 1 1/2 pounds, decrease the water to 6 cups, use a 28 ounce can of organic crushed tomatoes, and add 2 T beef base and 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper. Instead of the spaghetti we use half a cup of acini di pepe which I stir in after the soup has simmered 25 minutes. Add some crusty bread and a salad and you have a hearty warming meal.

Instead of corn, used mixed vegetable and 1 lb of Angel Hair Pasta broken in 1/3rds. Doubled other ingredients. Was a bit bland on first taste, but added seasonings to spice it up. My son loves any kind of pasta EXCEPT spaghetti, the angel hair was a big hit with him. Fast, easy and I thought a 'fun' recipe to play with.

Try using chicken broth in place of at LEAST half of the water. I think he probably adds chicken cubes and they were somehow left out of the original recipe. Just be careful then about adding salt.

definetly SEASON! I put some garlic powder and italian seasoning when browning the meat. I added 3 "Cans" of water, and cooked rice instead of pasta (what was on hand). I added about a TBL. of fresh herbs at the end, and this really tasted wonderful. I added shredded moz. cheese, but it just got stringing.

I tried this recipe but the pot we have would not hold all eight cups of water and the rest of the ingredients. As I followed the instructions in the recipe and I got to the part where one adds the water, I realized I would only get about four cups of water into the pot. (I also added a half teaspoon of Basil, Marjoram, Pepper, Oregano and Salt. It seemed way too bland otherwise.) As my wife and sat down to eat, she commented that if I had managed to add all eight cups of water, it would have tasted as if the water had a very brief passing encounter with a tomato. A few nights later, I warmed up the leftovers. Most of the water that had been in the bowl must have been absorbed by the spaghetti so I added an eight ounce can of tomato sauce. I filled the can with water and added that. Then I added about a tablespoon of Basil, Marjoram, Oregano and Thyme. When I served it up this time, my wife said, "now this tastes like something!" I'm going to assume that the eight cups mentioned in the original recipe was a typo. Some of the ingredients must have been missing. If the recipe was made as stated, it would have been more than bland. In fact, I think maybe only three cups of water would be sufficient in the original version. I guess with all of these alterations I can name the resulting recipe after myself and call it B.J.'s spaghetti soup, but I've got a few more alterations in mind to make it better. ;-)

This recipe, as written, was a good bae recipe, but very bland. I added 1/2 tsp each of thyme, tarragon, oregano, salt and pepper and it made it into a wonderful soup. My wife and daughter say that the spaghetti should be broken intoi 1" or 2" pieces.

I made this recipe when I was in a hurry to fix dinner. My children really enjoyed it. It was tasty, however, it really needs salt and pepper. Without them, I thought it was bland.

My husband and I enjoyed this soup. The taste is similar to the goulash I make occasionally. I added salt to the recipe to give it more flavor.