Oma's Italian Meatball Soup

Yum

My Italian meatball soup is so good! You can make it as spicy as you like. And, one of the best things is that you empty your fridge, crisper, and/or freezer. Did you know minestrone is really just a thick soup made with vegetables that often has pasta or rice.

Often meat is added, but not necessary. This soup is called Italian MEATBALL soup. It HAS meat! That makes hubby happy!

Oma's Italian Meatball Soup 

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 28-oz can diced tomatoes
• 15-oz can drained pinto or black beans
• 15-oz can drained red kidney beans
• 11-oz can whole kernel corn (with liquid)
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 cup beef broth
• 8-oz can tomato sauce
• 4-oz can diced green chill peppers
• 1 (1.25 oz) package Taco Seasoning Mix
• salt and pepper

Instructions:

• In a saucepan, heat oil. Add ground beef, stirring to break up and cook until browned. Add beef to slow cooker.
• Add onion and garlic to saucepan and cook until translucent. Add to slow cooker.
• Add remaining ingredients to slow cooker. Mix well. Cover. 
• Cook for 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Serve with corn chips, Mexican corn bread, sour cream, shredded Cheddar cheese, or other toppings of your choice.
• Makes 8 - 10 servings

Like the soup above? You'll love looking at and making more of Oma's soups. All so quick and easy!

What makes these soups so wunderbar? They bring back such wonderful memories of my Mutti's kitchen. So, of course, I had to write my own soup e-cookbook to share with my grandchildren. I know you'll LOVE it, too! There are 84 full-color pages filled with step-by-step instructions and hints. Take a quick peek ...

Sharing these soup recipes from my Mutti and Oma to my own young grandchildren ... that's such a delicious way to pass on our German heritage :)

A bit of this and a bit of that ...

• Don't have any beef broth. Use bouillon cubes, following package instructions for the quantity to use for 2 cups.
• Add any leftover veggies you have in your fridge. If you want to use up veggies from your crisper, you may need to cook the soup a bit longer to get them tender. 

Tradition says that it was used originally to use up leftovers.

So, what's often in the crisper? Onions, celery, tomatoes, and carrots. So, these are often included.

Well, the soup below rivals any that you get in an Italian restaurant.

And you’ll feel utterly Italian doing so! In fact, it will be among your favorite Italian soup recipes! I guarantee it!

You’ll easily feed 9 - 10 people with this potful. You could cut back on the quantities, but I find it’s always great to have leftovers for the next day. Since this soup has pasta in it, it will have a tendency to become thicker as it stands. You may need to add extra liquid when reheating. 

Some more International Soups

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Want nutritional information for a recipe? Copy and paste the ingredient list and the number of servings into Calorie Count. It will give you an approximate calculation.

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