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

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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

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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

Learn the health benefits of soup plus get 15 delicious recipes to help you celebrate this wonderful food anytime.