Meatball Tortilla Soup

Its been awhile since I have posted a recipe. Life kind of gets in the way sometimes. It seems like I have been so busy but I can't tell you what I have been doing. My weight loss journey continues. I have lost 15 pounds since Jan 1st. Yay!! My husband has lost some weight as well. He plays basketball 3 times a week and he said with the way I have been feeding him its no wonder he is losing weight. I have tried to cut out most processed foods, high fructose corn syrup and adding in lots and lots of veggies. I am also trying to cut back on sodium. Thats hard to do! Anyway, on to todays recipe.

I love soup. Any kind of soup. I could eat it for lunch and for dinner, every day. This is one of my favorites. WARNING: this is not a "come home from work exhausted and throw this soup on the stove" kind of recipe. It takes some prep work. Its a weekend kind of soup for me. But the results are so worth it! I found this in a Cooking Light magazine. I love Cooking Light. I have done several recipes out of this months edition already. This particular recipe is perfect for those chilly nights. I know spring is coming, but you wouldn't know it by the weather we have been having here!

Here we go:

 

2 cups frozen corn or you can use 2 corn on the cob, 1 poblano chili

cut in half and seeded and several small peppers or 1

red pepper, seeded. Put on foil lined pan and broil until

skins are blistered and the corn is blackened.

 

 

Mix the hamburger mixture and form into meatballs, I use a small

ice cream scoop. It makes the perfect size meatball.

 

Brown the meatballs in a Dutch oven. Remove from pan when

browned.

 

Add your carrots, celery and onion. Saute 5 minutes,

then add garlic. cook 1 more minute.

Add broth, corn and peppers and meatballs.

Slice 4 corn tortillas into 1 inch strips, spray with cooking

spray and broil until golden brown on both sides.

Top with cheese and tortilla strips. Enjoy!

Tortilla Meatball Soup

Calories: 380

Serves 6

• 2 cups corn
• 1 large poblano chili seeded
• 4 (6 in) corn tortillas cut into 1 inch strips
• Salt
• 6 cloves of garlic minced and divided
• 1/3 panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 pound ground beef (or you can use ground turkey for a lighter soup)
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 chipotle chili, canned in adobe sauce, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups onion chopped
• 1 cup celery
• 2 cups red potatoes diced
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• fat free cheddar cheese
• cilantro

Preheat broiler. Cut and seed peppers. Place peppers cut side down on foil lined baking sheet. Arrange corn with peppers. Broil 4-6 minutes until blackened. Let cool. Peel peppers and coarsely chop. Note the original recipe called for jalapeno instead of poblano chili. I didn’t want that much heat. If you like heat, use jalapeno peppers (2)

Place tortilla strips on foil lined sheet and spray with cooking spray. Bake until crisp on both sides and golden brown. About 2 minutes.

Combine salt, 1 garlic clove, breadcrumbs, hamburger and chipotle chili in a large bowl. And gently mixed until just combines. Note 1 chili will make these meatballs spicy so cut back a little if you are concerned about that. Form into 24 meatballs.

Place Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add oil to pan. Add meatballs, sauté for 8 minutes to brown on all sides. Remove from pan. Add onion, celery and carrots to pan. When softened add remaining garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add peppers, corn, potatoes, broth and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes until vegetables are tender. Return meatballs to pan. Cook 10 minutes or until meatballs are done.

Ladle 1 ½ cups of soup (with 4 meatballs each) into bowls. Top with cheese and tortills strips. Garnish with cilantro.