Meatball soup

So I decided I needed to stuff myself with veggies, on the weekend I tend to lack in consumption of fruits and veggies. Plus Hub's has business trips all week so I made this big pot of meatball soup so I have something good and hearty to eat while he's gone instead of my normal cereal for every meal. I got this idea from 2 different recipes, one I saw on Paula Dean for unstuffed cabbage soup and the other was from and Italian cookbook my mother-in-law gave me, that recipe is for polpette (meatballs) cooked in a homemade tomato sauce. Since my husband isn't a huge fan of cabbage I left that out of the soup and just stuffed it full of veggies. Basically I made a vegetable or minestrone soup and dropped meatballs in it. 

2 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, 3 ribs of celery, 3 carrots



Add a can of rinsed cannallini beans and a large can of crushed tomatoes



One onion and 4 cloves of garlic sweating in some olive oil to this you should add the chopped up veggies and let them cook for a bit, then dump in the can of crushed tomatoes and a can of water then the beans and of course salt, pepper and spices (I used sage and oregeno)



For the meatballs, 1 lb of ground pork, 1 lb of extra lean beef, 1 onion, 1 egg, and a handful of spinach rinsed and chopped.

Toss all the meatball ingredients in a big bowl and dig in

make little balls about the size of wal-nuts



After the soup has been cooking 20 or so minutes you drop in the meatballs and let that simmer for at least 20-30 mins but for soups I feel the longer it simmers and flavors are released the better.



The finished product topped with some shredded parmesan

I was quite impressed with myself, was a good idea to toss balls of meat into a veggie soup so it pleased both me and my husband.