Tomato Soup with Vegetables and Spicy Meatballs

All the rainy, cold weather last week had me craving a big hearty (and healthy!) soup. When I started to think about how I was going to make this, I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to go out about it. In true Natalie fashion I totally winged it. I grabbed a few cans of chicken broth, some tomato paste and whatever vegetables I had in the fridge. I am happy to report that it tasted great! Experimenting in the kitchen is one of my favorite things to do.

Great thing about this recipe is that it can easily be made vegan! Just substitute vegetable broth and no meatballs. Easy peasy.

 For this soup, you’ll need:

4 (14.5 ounce) cans of chicken broth

6 ounces of tomato paste

3 cups of chopped fresh kale

1 lb of spicy sausage

1/2 cup of chopped white onion

1/2 cup of chopped celery

1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of minced ginger

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Fresh cilantro leaves and lime wedges for garnish

 

 Roll the sausage into golf ball sized balls and bake at 350 degrees on a parchment lined baking sheet for 20 minutes or until cooked thoroughly. I didn’t do anything special for these meatballs, just rolled them up!

 Begin by bringing the chicken broth plus 3/4 a can of water to a boil. Then add in the chopped onions, celery and kale.

In a separate pan, sauté the tomato paste with the mushrooms, olive oil, salt, ginger and garlic for about one minute over medium high heat. Then transfer that into the large pot with the broth. Bring to a rolling boil for about 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables have softened a little.

 

 Next add the meatballs to the soup. I garnished mine with squeezed limes and some cilantro leaves.

 This soup is packed with veggies and is filling enough for a meal.

Enjoy!