Paleo Meatball Soup

I have made a most excellent soup today called Paleo Meatball Soup.  I found the recipe online while I was at work a few weeks ago.  I found a lot of interesting recipes that day but I think this is the first one that I've actually tried.  I didn't have a lot of the ingredients but I was going grocery shopping this morning anyway so it worked out perfectly.  

So I moved my laptop into the kitchen and started slicing and dicing.  Here is my soup pot full of onions and celery.  I have recently begun freezing my celery because I never eat a full stalk at once.  This works great for soups and I don't have to feel bad for throwing away food!

I started to dump everything else in, as directed, when I realized that the amounts of ingredients didn't match the ingredient list and the directions (you'll see for yourself if you look at it).  I panicked a little and then just thought of correct ratios for things.  I wasn't sure about the 2 teaspoons of fresh basil since it called for 3 tablespoons...there's a big difference!  I ended up using 3 tablespoons of fresh because you always have to use more of fresh herbs to equal dried herbs.  I also didn't really measure the cauliflower or broccoli-why bother!  So here is the soup with almost everything in it.    

After the soup is simmering you make the meatballs and just throw them in.  It was as I was making the meatballs that I read that I should add 1 tablespoon of garlic powder to my one pound of meat.  That sounded ridiculous!  So I added 1 teaspoon like it said in the ingredient list.  That worked out well.  Here I divided from the recipe a little.  He says to throw in the zucchini, spinach and meatballs all at the same time and simmer for 20 minutes.  Well, I knew the zucchini and spinach didn't need that long so I simmered the soup for 20 minutes until the meatballs were done and then added the zucchini and spinach for about 5 minutes.  It worked out great.  

Here it is.  I had two bowls of it and it kept me full all afternoon.  That almost never happens to me!  It was so good I burned my tongue and I'm okay with that!  I'm definitely keeping this recipe...yum, yum, yum.