Orzo Soup with Turkey-Parmesan Meatball

Orzo Soup with Turkey-Parmesan Meatballs?

Yes, please! This recipe is absolutely divine. A recipe so simple, yet tastes so gourmet. It's delicious. And especially yum on a chilly winter night!

It seriously is so flavorful that you don't need to even pair this soup with anything. Although, Casey was super hungry from hunting all day without much food, so I whipped up a fancy grilled cheese with sun dried tomatoes.  It browned perfectly. It was a prized grilled cheese. Definitely one to write home about (or at least blog about). Picture worthy for sure. Unfortunately, that does not mean I have a picture. I have not joined the 21st century with a phone that I can upload pics from. So that leaves the point and shoot camera that I all too often forget.

Anyhow, back to the main attraction of this blog. The soup.

So what I have done is mesh two separate turkey meatball recipes. This is because what I do is use an entire pound of ground turkey, but make meatballs to go in two recipes. So I have created my own turkey meatball recipe in order to accommodate both recipes. Talk about smart cooking. So fun too. I used to only be confident enough in my baking skills to throw in whatever and not measure, cause I baked all the time. But I tell ya, since Casey and I got married, I've just been chef extraordinaire. Experimenting in the kitchen with all kinds of fun stuff. And it has all miraculously been amazeballs. After the soup on Monday, I decided I want to open a restaurant. I think Casey would've been on board if he had not been trying to have a completely different conversation. I mean, COMPLETELY different. I can't even remember about what now, but I do remember how confused Katie was when he kept talking about his discussion topic, and I kept responding with more restaurant ideas. Ha ha.

Okay, for real back to the soup now. What I do is make a full recipe of turkey meatballs and use half for the orzo meatball soup and half for spaghetti and meatballs! So easy. Then you have--voila--two meals! Crazy, right? I use half and then freeze the other half until I need to use them. I think we'll have spaghetti next week. Maybe with fun shaped pasta and not just plain old spaghetti noodles.

These meatballs are the best. So good that, for years, I wouldn't even use any pasta when my mom made them. I would just have meatballs and tomato sauce. Like soup. I guess I thought I needed a lot of Lycopene to prevent prostate cancer. That was clearly a joke. Because girls don't have prostates.

Please visit the benefits of tomatoes at the link to your right: I Love Tomatoes!

And these meatballs are super duper healthy!

So combine 2 egg whites (beaten), 2 T parsley, 1/2 small red onion (finely chopped), 1/4 tsp pepper, 1-2 cloves garlic (minced), 3/4 c bread crumbs (I use Italian or herb seasoned), 1/4 c Parmesan cheese (shredded), and 1 pound of lean ground turkey. Smoosh it all up with your fingers (warning: take off any rings) because a spoon just doesn't get it all mixed quite right. I also threw in some oregano, thyme, and Italian seasoning on Monday night, but like I said, I'm a chef now so there is no telling what I will or will not use in this recipe. Or any recipe for that matter. Just sayin...


Now once this is thoroughly mixed, make meatball about the size of a ping pong ball or whatever size you choose. Mine are about the size to make 24-26 meatballs. Put half into a shallow tupperware or pie plate and cover tightly to freeze. And put half on a pan to chill in the fridge or freezer a minimum of 30 minutes (so they don't fall apart when you put them in the soup as they would if at room temp). 


For the soup, you'll also need: 8 cups of chicken broth (I have discovered the College Inn Culinary chicken broth that has Chablis wine, rosemary, and thyme in it...and I have no words, it truly truly makes a broth based recipe come to life...if I don't have any of this broth in my pantry, I'll add herbs and white wine that I have on hand to the plain broth to help out),  12 oz baby carrots (halved), and 3/4 cup orzo. 


Bring broth to a boil in a large pot. Add carrots and orzo; reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered for 8 minutes. Add turkey meatballs and simmer about 15 more minutes. 


Makes 4 servings. 


Per serving: 350 calories and 14 grams of fat (5 g sat fat)...not sure why I don't have any other nutritional information. Apologies.

Enjoy!!!!!

This soup makes me happy.