Hearty Italian Meatball Soup

By Tonya_Speed

Ingredients

• 1 pound extra lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 3 cups beef bone broth
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1 cup leeks, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 cup chopped zucchini

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from savingdinner.com

Preparation

Step 1

Roast your marrow bones before simmering in water with a bit of cider vinegar to produce bone broth, a healing elixir great for your gut, your bones and teeth. The added step of roasting the bones will greatly enhance the flavor of the resulting broth.

Never throw bones away. Even if you just had a dinner of chicken thighs. Save the bones in a freezer bag and when you have a large amount, use them to make a nice batch of bone broth.

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium bowl, combine ground beef, basil, oregano, and garlic. Make 1-inch meatballs until all of the meat is used, and place in bottom of slow cooker. In a large bowl, combine tomato sauce, broth, onion, bell pepper, leeks, garlic, salt, pepper and basil. Pour over meatballs. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours. Turn heat to high and add zucchini, stirring well, then recover and cook for another 15-20 minutes, until zucchini is tender-crisp. Serve immediately and enjoy!