I am constantly pinning recipes. In one board, a virtual Willy Wonka-type factory of sweets that I have no intention of ever making but my god do they sound great. On another, I have ideas for creating some new meals for my family. The good news is that I use this board when I make my grocery lists. The bad news is I usually save the Wow This is Really Good recipes for the weekend because that’s when I actually have time and energy to make things from total scratch.
This is one of those recipes that falls in the sweet spot of being easy/fast to prepare and also mind-blowingly delicious.
The original recipe called for making your own meatballs, which definitely falls under “weekend” task for me. What’s a busy parent to do on a weeknight? Three words: Frozen turkey meatballs. (I am partial to Trader Joe’s turkey meatballs if you were looking for a recommendation.)
Going the frozen route will shave off prep time and cook time, saving you 10-20 minutes, easily.
WORKWEEK MEATBALL SOUP
Recipe, adapted from SkinnyTaste:
- 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled & chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 quart low sodium chicken broth (I used organic broth from Pacific)
- 9-10 oz refrigerated spinach cheese tortellini (I turned to Trader Joe’s for this, too, but Buitoni works fine, too)
- Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cups loosely packed baby spinach (frozen spinach would work, too, just add in with tortellini instead of at the end)
- Fresh grated Parmesan for topping
Directions:
1. In a large nonstick pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. When melted, add the celery, onion, carrot & garlic. Cover and reduce heat to low and cook for approximately 8-10 minutes until vegetables begin to soften.
2. Add the chicken broth and increase heat to medium-high, bringing to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and drop in the frozen meatballs and tortellini (if using frozen spinach, add here, too). Cook according to tortellini directions, 7-10 minutes.
3. Once cooked, add the baby spinach. Stir to combine and serve topped with Parmesan and pepper (and cilantro if you love cilantro as much as I do).
Note: I add pepper at the end because I have to contend with pepper aversions (the horror! pepper is awesome!). You can add pepper whenever you like.
This is definitely a 30-minute (or less) meal. Less time in the kitchen, more time to get the kid to sleep at a decent hour so you can watch “Jack Reacher” on Netflix, so win-win.
Oh, and can I just say LOOK at this? I can almost smell it through the screen. Yum.
Do you have any go-to weeknight meals I can try next?
