Meatball & Barley Soup

Meatball & Barley Soup

1 T olive oil
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/4 cups barley
1 pound ground pork
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 T fresh parsley
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
8 cups roughly chopped spinach

Saute the carrots, onion and garlic in the olive oil till soft. Add mixture to your crock pot along with the broth and 2 CUPS water and the barley. Cover the crock pot and set on low to cook. Meanwhile, mix together ground pork, 1/4 cup Parmesan, the parsley, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Roll into 30 meatballs (about 1 T each).

Drop the meatballs into the soup. Stir in the beans. Recover the crockpot and cook about 6 hours. About 30 minutes before dinner, stir in the spinach, the remaining Parmesan, 1 1/4 t. salt, and 1/4 t. pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with grated Parmesan,if desired.

Too hot to cook shortcuts: At Meijer in the fresh cut fruit and veggie isle in produce, there are quart containers of diced carrots, celery, onion already chopped. Also they have containers of diced garlic. Cannellini beans are white kidney beans and are usually found in the World food isle by the Italian stuff. If you can't find them, regular kidney beans will do. For lighter tasting meatballs, you can substitute ground chicken. I suggest you mix them in your standmixer for speed and convenience. I'd also check the freezer isle for premade meatballs to make this a real no brainer "dump and run" dinner.