Brown the ground beef with the onion in a little bit of oil until the beef is brown throughout.
Add potato, carrots, celery, cabbage and beans. Saute for 1-2 minutes.
Then add the bay leaf, thyme, basil, salt, and pepper and the 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil.
Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
In a separate pot, boil the pasta according to the package directions and drain. Set aside.
To serve, place about 1-2 tablespoons of pasta in the bowl, add the soup and top with grated Parmesan cheese.
Keep the pasta separate from the soup for storing/reheating. Otherwise the pasta soaks up too much of the broth and gets overly cooked.