Place ground beef in large, 5-6 quart pot. Turn the heat on medium and break it up into smaller chunks using a wooden spoon. You don’t have to actually brown the beef; it’s just easier to break it up into smaller pieces at this point.
Add the tomato sauce, spices, and pasta, and bring the mixture to a medium simmer. The sauce should be making bubbles, but it shouldn’t be splattering everywhere.
Let the mixture cook for about 10-15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, breaking up the meat, and making sure the noodles are submerged in the sauce as much as possible.
Check the pasta for doneness at the 10-minute mark and continue to cook until the noodles are al dente. Add additional chicken stock, ½ cup at a time, if the sauce becomes too thick before the noodles have had a chance to cook. The sauce will thicken and evaporate as it cooks.
When the noodles are just about done, stir in the frozen peas. When the peas are warmed through and the pasta is done, remove from the heat.
Gently stir in 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Taste and add more cheese as desired.
Serve warm.
Notes
Tomato Sauce. This can be actual tomato sauce, or it can be whole or diced tomatoes you pureed. It doesn’t matter really what you start with, but give it a whiz in your blender (I have this one) so that it becomes a sauce.