Turkey Meatball And Hearty Vegetable Soup

By Macki West

My family’s favorite way to eat turkey is in the form of a meatball. We will have them plain, with sauce or lately as the headliner in a hearty vegetable soup. It’s one of those simple and delicious one-pot meals that makes you long for leftovers and warms your soul on a cold fall day.  My kids even ask for it in their lunch the next day that’s saying a lot coming from my PB & J everyday kids!

Some more interesting posts:

Slow-Cooker Turkey Meatballs

Ultimate Meatball Sub Sandwich

Turkey Meatball

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 1/3 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/3 of an onion finely chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ cup milk

Directions:

Mix the ground turkey with the dry ingredients and onion. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk together, then pour into the ground turkey. Gently stir to combine and form into small balls. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat and place the meatballs into the pot. Cook for about 5 minutes, then flip and cook an additional 3 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside. Now it’s time to make your soup.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2/3 onion roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• ½ cup water
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can stewed tomatoes (I puree these with a stick blender)
• 1 cup of sliced carrots
• 2 cups thick sliced green and yellow squash/zucchini
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 tablespoons parsley
• 10 oz package of cheese tortellini
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• parmesan cheese

Directions:

Heat oil in the dutch oven with the brown bits from the meatballs. Add the onion, garlic, salt and pepper, cook for about 5 minutes until onion is translucent. Add wine to deglaze the pan. Once the bit are off the bottom of the pan, add the broth, wine, tomatoes, water and carrots. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the zucchini, herbs, tortellini and sugar and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Then add the meatballs and cook for another 10 minutes and serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.