Spaghetti And Meatball Soup

I’ve hesitated about sharing this one, because I feel like I was doing a little…channeling of Aunt Sandy (if you know what I mean).  When I came up with the idea, it was after a quick glance through the freezer- and the small freezer bag of meatballs I had in there. There really wasn’t enough to do much with- certainly not enough for spaghetti and meatballs or meatball sandwiches.  I also found a can of Hunt’s chunky vegetable marinara sauce in the pantry, and with all the pasta I have lying around, it just seemed like a good idea to make soup.  So I pulled out the meatballs to thaw, pulled six cups of chicken stock out of the freezer to thaw, and rummaged through the veggie drawer for some scraps.

I started with a standard mirepoix of onions, celery and carrots, sweating in a puddle of oil. Then I decided to add a few cloves of garlic (two to be exact) as well as a bay leaf.  When I went to grab my chicken stock out of the sink where it had been thawing, I discovered the tragedy of a hole in the freezer bag.  At least half of the stock already made it’s way down the drain, so I added what I had to the pot, and then went and got a smaller, 3 cup bag out of the freezer and thawed that.  The meatballs I cut in half, because I wanted the bites to fit on a spoon, and one meatball would have just been too big, so the halved meatballs went in, and then I poured in the entire 27 ounce can of chunky veggie tomato sauce.   One teaspoon of a dried Italian herb blend and a pinch of salt and pepper finished the bulk of my soup.  On the side I brought some salted water to a boil and cooked up about 3 large handfuls of rotini to al dente- very al dente, actually.  The cooked rotini went into the soup, and then the whole pot was carefully poured into my crock-pot set to low until dinner time.

The results of this soup was way better than I expected.  It was delicious and hearty, and while I utilized it as a way to use up leftover odd-n-ends, I think I would buy the odds-n-ends just to make this soup.  The meatballs were homemade, which I had made a few months ago and froze the extra, but certainly, for an even quicker shortcut you could purchase frozen meatballs for this.   The adaptability here is endless, as I am also thinking that by adding some bell pepper and swapping out meatballs for Italian Sausage, you could have a spectacular Sausage And Pepper Soup.  Now that would make my husband very happy indeed!  The soup serves about six as a main course with some delicious homemade bread.

Spaghetti and Meatball Soup

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
5-6 cups chicken broth or stock
1 (27 ounce) can chunky vegetable marinara sauce
20 pre-cooked meatballs, cut in half
1 teaspoon Italian herb blend
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cups dried rotini pasta, cooked to al dente
Parmesan Cheese to serve (optional)

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the garlic and bay leaf and cook for another two minutes.  Add the chicken broth, marinara sauce, meatballs, and Italian herb blend.  Bring to a simmer, and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Check for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as desired.

Add the cooked pasta, and simmer for another five minutes.  Serve with Parmesan Cheese for sprinkling on top.

Budget-Friendly Ideas, Soup of The Week - by Erika

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