I'm not one of those people who cooks the same recipe every time. I prefer to tinker with my food. Sometimes it's successful, sometimes it's not so great. This delicious recipe came out of a combination of ingredients on hand in the fridge:
- chicken soup made from the bones of the roasted chicken two days ago
- the outer leaves set aside from making fermented cabbage
- the tops of celery
- an onion
- the leftover bits of sweet bell pepper
Needing to come up with something for dinner I decided that soup was the order of the day. Quick, easy and versatile soups are always a great way to use up leftovers for a delicious meal. It's like my own version of a kitchen chef contest, what-can-I-make-with-these-ingredients. I
often joke that instead of the kitchen shows where the chef-contestants have access to a kitchen with every ingredient imaginable, there needs to be a cooking show where you have a refrigerator full of leftovers and a traditionally stocked pantry.
While I'm not sure what anyone else would have made with my ingredients on hand; this is what I came up with. In this case a meatball soup seemed like a perfect dinner recipe to me. It was a hit and this recipe will be making a regular appearance at our table.
Meatball Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup of celery (mostly greens), diced
- 8 large cabbage leaves, shredded
- 1/2 sweet bell pepper, diced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- meatballs (see recipe below)
- 1 cup cooked rice
- sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stock pot
- Saute onion until just starting to wilt
- Add garlic and saute one more minute
- Add celery and cabbage greens and saute two minutes
- Add bell pepper and saute one minute
- Add broth and water
- Bring to just under boiling then reduce to a simmer
- Gently spoon meatballs into soup
- Cook 20 minutes or until meatballs are done
- Add rice, salt and pepper and serve
Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound organic ground meat
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon dried onion
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Mix ingredients together and form into meatballs
- Bake in 350F oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through