Cold Weather Dinner

I'm a big fan of the one-pot meal, the casserole, the crock pot dinner. Less dishes, all sorts of goodness in a simple package. I live in a house full of testosterone so this is not always the consensus, but this? This recipe keeps even my staunch carnivores happy.

I consulted Pinterest and found inspiration for an Albondigas Soup from Hispanic Kitchen and Taylors at Home, then mishmashed the recipes and added my own twist. We really love this and I hope you do too!

Albondigas Soup

1 white onion, diced
2 spoonfulls of minced garlic (aprox. 2 Tablespoons ?)
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil

Saute onion and garlic in the oil in a tall soup pot until onion is beginning to get soft.

Add 8 cups of broth. (I prefer to use Knorr stock starters, in vegetable flavor. However my store now only carries chicken and beef. Any of these will be fine. Use two starters with the 8 cups of water.) Bring to a simmer.

Chop: 3 stalks celery, and carrots (I don't really know how much I used. I just chopped the mini carrots until it looked like I had a little more than the celery.)

Add veggies to pot with: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon oregano, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can mild green chilies (4 oz,) and frozen, bite-size, home-style meatballs. (The packages I found have 22 or 28 meatballs per package. I use 1 1/2 packages for the meat-lovers in my family. You can just as easily use homemade meatballs if you'd like. Or the large ones from Costco. Whatever you have should be fine.) Continue to simmer until the meatballs are no longer frozen and the veggies are tender, approx 20-30 min.

20 minutes before serving: Add 1/4-1/3 cup white rice. (Omit if you've made your meatballs and added the rice there.)

15 minutes before serving: Add 3-4 small zucchini, chopped.

You can also add jalapenos, or some other kind of peppers as per the linked recipes. We have one that isn't so much of a spicy guy, so I leave them out and HD adds fresh chopped jalapenos to his own.

This recipe serves the 4 of us, with one serving left over for my lunch. Your results may vary.