My Dad's Spaghetti Soup (hopefully)

I haven't had my dad's spaghetti soup in years and over Christmas we were discussing it when he mentioned what he planned on making once he had his kitchen back (it's being remodeled). He instructed me on how to make it verbally and I figured I could probably work it out so that it was hopefully at least 75% as good as how my father makes it.

His instructions (as best as I remembered them, I'm sure they're not exact):

Cook onions and a little olive oil in a large pot as if you were going to start a spaghetti sauce (I also added a clove of garlic minced). Add ground beef and brown. I seasoned the beef with pepper, salt, oregano, basil, and one bay leaf. I'm not sure of when he said to add the sauce spices but this worked for me. Add two cans of Pastene Kitchen Ready (these are the only canned tomatoes I use. The flavor is out of this world and it's not concentrated. I also read that they don't line their cans with the plastic bpa coating which is an added bonus for me.) Add four cans of water and cook for a while. Adjust seasoning to taste. You can tell when it gets that "sauce" flavor and the kind of tart flavor smoothes out. Add 1/2 box thin spaghetti (he said thin spaghetti or angel hair but I prefer thin spaghetti) breaking it up into lengths of about 2-3 inches. Simmer until spaghetti is cooked through. I turned the heat off and let it sit for about 15 minutes before having a bowl. The spaghetti was just perfect at that point. Top with shredded parmesan (or whatever you have).