This is one of my favorite soup recipes.  I especially love it in the fall.  I have adapted it and made it my own over the years.  For instance, the original recipe calls for garbanzo beans, and I HATE garbanzo beans, so I leave them out, hers has 3 cans of beef broth (I like mine with more broth) and no chicken boullion, but the basic recipe is the same. You could do it either way. This is my all time favorite soup (except my husband’s homemade turkey soup) and it just screams “Autumn!” to me. I make it all the time in the fall and winter, and Tonya always makes it before we take the kiddos trick-or-treating on Halloween. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

1 large, or two small onions, chopped
2 or 3 carrots, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
28oz can of crushed tomatoes
5 cans of beef broth
2 cubes of chicken boullion
1 16oz package of frozen meatballs
6 handfulls of cheese tortellini
Salt & pepper to taste (Careful not to over do the salt, the broth is salty)

DIRECTIONS:

First off, I find that if you chop all of your vegis in a uniform size, they will cook more evenly. So I cut my carrots in 4ths before I chop them, and my celery stalks in half before I chop them until they are about the same size.

In a large soup pan, over medium heat, heat up about a teaspoon of olive oil. Add your chopped onion, celery, and carrots, and sautee until the onions are translucent. To the mixture, add your tomatoes and beef broth. Bring to a boil, and add meatballs and seasoning. Cover, and simmer over low heat about 45 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Add tortellini and cook another 15 minutes. Top with grated parmesan cheese and serve.