Soup for your Soul

Yeah, I’m gonna be a bit literal here. It’s cold out. Almost everywhere I look on the book of face I see that people across the country are cold. REALLY COLD. And cold weather means I like to make up a big old pot of soup. Recently, I made Chicken soup that may be magical and helped me get over the flu I contracted in record time but I don’t have that one written up yet so maybe in a future post? Over the holidays though, we ate a LOT of soup. You can follow my Pinterest Board for Soups if you are looking for some new soup ideas, but this one was a HUGE crowd pleaser.

Y’all may know that I don’t REALLY follow recipes… more like I’m inspired by recipes and then do whatever I wanna do. Cause that’s how I roll. Well, that’s how I came up with the Meatball soup that my boys RAVED about. Giant is already asking when we can have it again. I’m not as good as the Pioneer woman about taking step by step pictures, but this was fairly easy to put together so I think y’all can manage.

The original inspiration for this soup came from my friend Kelly over at Eclectic Momsense. She posted a recipe for Italian Meatball Soup and her’s looks amazing. You should totally check it out. Plus, she takes WAY better pictures than I do. She prolly plans ahead whereas mine are more – “ohhh this is gonne be good, I’d better snap a pic before I shove it in my face.” Regardless… my version is below.

This is a thick and filling tomato based soup that is easy enough to make for the family and the best part is, it makes the house smell amazing while it cooks.

Meatball Soup

The What

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion – chopped
• 1 bunch of celery – chopped
• 3-4 Carrots – Sliced (Great time to break out the mandolin)
• 1 Head of cabbage
• 4-5 Red Potatoes – unpeeled, cubed
• Sliced mushrooms – Fresh or canned (or Omit if you are like Evin and hate the fungus)
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, with juice
• 2 cans of roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 c. beef broth
• Meatballs of your choice – I used store bought but homemade would be lovely here.

The How

• Add oil to hot pot. Sauté onion, carrots, celery & garlic until softened.
• Add in your cubed potatoes and all of the canned tomatoes – juice included.
• Sprinkle with a generous amount of Italian Seasoning and let simmer about 15 minutes.
• Add sliced cabbage, beef broth, sliced mushrooms and meatballs.  If you like a thinner soup, add more broth.  If you like a chunky stew, 2 cups should be good.
• Simmer about 30 minutes or longer if you wish.

We sprinkled Parmesan on top when served… of course we like Parm on just about anything.

Want to join in? Check out the prompts for the rest of the month and link up whenever one inspires you!