Spaghetti and Meatball Stoup

I saw this on a 30 Minute Meals show about 5 years ago and loved it. It is super easy, totally kid friendly, a great all-in-one meal. I used ground turkey breast to make it more healthy but you can use whatever kind of ground meat you like.








Spaghetti and Meatball "Stoup" (thicker than soup thinner than stew)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 carrot, peeled and chopped into a small dice

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 small ribs of celery, from the heart, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 cups tomato sauce or 1 (14 0z ) can plus 1 ( 80z) can

3 cups chicken stock

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus more to top the dish with

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

1 large egg beaten

2 Tbsp. chopped parsley leaves ( I left this out)

1/2 lb. spaghetti noodles broken in half

1 cup basil leaves torn or shredded

1 loaf Italian crusty bread for dunking

Preheat a medium soup pot over medium heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil. 2 turns of the pan, carrots, onion, celery, garlic and saute 5 min. Add tomato sauce and stock and cover pot. Turn up heat and bring to a fast boil.

While soup comes to a boil, mix meat with cheese, bread crumbs, egg and parsley. Roll into 1 1/2 to 2 inch balls

Remove lid from soup and slide into soup. Bring back to a boil then stir in spaghetti. Reduce the heat and simmer soup 10 min. more, until pasta is tender and balls have cooked through. Stir in basil and remove stoup from the stove. Serve soup with bread and cheese.