Alphabet Soup

This evening is cold and damp; which is the perfect weather for soup. I decided to make a quick and easy Alphabet Soup, because I love alphabet pasta. From start to finish, it took me nearly an hour to make; but to be honest I was working at a slow pace. I made this soup in layers, but if you wanted, you could throw a few things in at the same time and combine some of the steps.

Here is the recipe:
3 tbsp. olive oil
3 celery stalks
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. dried parsley
1/2 tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 tbsp. marjoram
1 tsp. basil pesto
2 (14.5 oz.) cans of Italian style diced tomatoes
1 (32. oz.) box of chicken stock
12 frozen meatballs (I used turkey meatballs)
1/4 + 2 tbsp. dried alphabet pasta
2 cups of frozen vegetables (I used a California mix)
12 oz. water

Heat a large pot on medium heat. To the pot, add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the chopped celery, minced garlic and dried herbs. Cook the celery until tender. Be certain to keep moving the mixture so that the garlic and herbs don't scorch ( you wouldn't want bitter garlic in your soup).

Next, add the two cans of diced tomatoes and the water. Bring the base to a simmer.

Then, you add the meatballs and bring to a boil. After that, you add the chicken stock, bring that to a boil and add the pasta. Cook the pasta for 6 minutes.

Finally, you add your frozen vegetables. I put in about 3/4 of the bag. I should have roughly chopped the vegetables prior to adding them to the soup. The soup was quite chunky. Since there were no small children eating the soup, I figured the adults could handle large bits of vegetable. I kept the soup at a boil for a few more minutes; just long enough to cook the vegetables. At the very end, just before serving, I added the basil pesto.

There you go, a tasty Alphabet Soup. This is a festive soup, because of the colors of the vegetables- the greens, reds and whites. I can't wait to have this for lunch tomorrow, as this recipe made a lot of soup. It would be great to have with crusty bread on the side. I served this with biscuits and it was fantastic! This was very easy to throw together and you can use many substitutions for this recipe and the soup would still be great.

Now, I still have a lot of wrapping to do. I know that I should watch a jolly holiday movie, but I've been craving a Walking Dead marathon. Ever since the show went on a mini- hiatus, I've been going through withdrawal. So, tonight, I'll make myself some festive hot cocoa and have a wrapping party, whilst watching old episodes of the show on Netflix. Until next time~ Toodahloo!