Jeannie's Italian Meatball Soup

By JeannieChu

This was a soup I threw together with what I had in the kitchen...but I think I may try cooking the meatballs on the stove a little before I put it in the soup and it would be delicious to add some noodles. I am on a high protein diet, so I left them out this time.

Ingredients

• Meatballs:
• 1 white onion chopped
• 5 gloves garlic finely chopped
• 3 whole carrots diced
• 2 stalks of celery diced
• 2/3 can of black olives crushed
• 1 carton beef stock
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can diced Italian style tomatoes
• 1/2 cup prepared garden style tomato sauce (Ragu or Prego)
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• Italian seasoning to taste
• 1 lb. ground chuck
• handful of oats
• handful of grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 about 1/2 of prepared tomato sauce (Ragu or Prego)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 about 1/4 cup milk
• salt and pepper
• italian seasoning
• Fresh grated parmesan cheese to finish

Preparation

Step 1

Saute onions, garlic, carrots and celery in olive oil lightly...when they start to brown add beef stock and canned tomatoes...bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer while you prepare the meatballs.
Put all meatball ingredients together and mix with hands until all ingredients are combined.
Form meat mixture into small meatballs....put the balls into the simmering soup and cook until the meatballs are done. You can turn the heat up to medium or medium high to cook the meat. The longer you let it cook, the firmer the meatballs get. If you put the meatballs in the soup raw, they will be very tender...if you want them firmer, brown the meatballs in a frying pan before adding to the soup to finish cooking the inside.
You could also add noodles to the soup. I would cook the noodles separately and add them to individual bowl, just to keep them from getting overcooked.
Serve the soup in bowls and finish with freshly grated parmesan on top! Delicious!!!