Yes, I realize that I’m opening every blog post this month with “it’s still hot in Austin.” Even as a huge fan of warm weather, I’m starting to get sick of it too. So, what do I do? I make soup and stew! Nothing like slurping up a piping hot bowl of my Wilted Greens, Beans & Meatball Stew after a run in near 90 degrees or a no air-conditioning CrossFit WOD. I’m not being snarky, I’m being serious – I’m not going to let Mother Nature infringe on the length of my soup season. And, good news, the weathermen are predicting a cold front . . . . we’ll be dipping down into the upper 70s for the high this weekend. HA!
Looking forward to Austin’s upcoming “cold front” !!
While my Chipotle Squash & Chickpea Soup is always yummy, the soup in my pot this week is a delicious, easy and super healthy Wilted Greens, Beans & Meatball Stew that I first created for Litehouse Foods. The beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever winter greens you have on hand like spinach, kale, collard greens, mustard greens or Swiss chard – use a mixture, that’s even better. It’s always sad to say my temporary goodbyes to vine-ripe tomatoes and zucchini as the sun fades out on summer, but the farmer’s market will be brimming with all of these vitamin-packed, nutritious winter greens. According to the USDA, dark leafy vegetables are plentiful in potassium, manganese and iron. Not to mention, they are all a good source for vitamins A, C, K and E as well as calcium, folic acid and fiber. So eat up!
Wilted Greens, Beans & Beef Meatball Soup Recipe
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ¼ cup chopped celery
- ¼ cup chopped carrot
- 8 ounces sliced button mushrooms
- 6 cups beef broth
- 1 15-oz can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Litehouse Food Instantly Fresh Garlic (or fresh chopped)
- 1 tablespoon Litehouse Food Instantly Fresh Parsley(or fresh chopped)
- 1 tablespoons Litehouse Food Instantly Fresh Chives (or fresh chopped)
- 1 ½ teaspoon Litehouse Food Instantly Fresh Thyme (or fresh chopped)
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 Parmesan rind (dry end from wedge optional)
- 8 cups of coarsely chopped mixed winter greens (spinach kale collards chard)
- 24 pre-cooked “mini” or “party size” lean beef meatballs
- Garnish: shaved Parmesan cheese if desired
- In 6-quart Dutch oven or stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrot and mushroom and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, or until softened and lightly caramelized.
- Add broth and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add beans, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, chives, thyme, pepper, and parmesan rind. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add one half of mixed winter greens to pot; stir for 2 to 3 minutes to allow leaves to “wilt” down thus providing room for remaining greens. Add remaining greens and continue to stir and cook down for approximately 2 minutes.
- Cover pot with lid and keep heat on low. Reheat meatballs according to manufacturer’s instructions in microwave or oven. When reheated, drain on paper towels, if needed, and add to stew. Use a spoon to remove any remnant of the parmesan rind.
- To serve, ladle among four bowls and top with shaved parmesan cheese if desired.
- Serves 4
Please visit the Living Litehouse blog for lots more yummy and convenient recipes that will work with your healthy lifestyle.
To help you work up a sweat, I’ve got a Tabata workout that will definitely make you earn that piece of cornbread with your soup. If you’re not familiar with the Tabata concept, it’s basically 20 seconds of high intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest and then repeat, repeat, repeat for four minutes. Tabata workouts are meant to increase the capacity of both your aerobic and anaerobic systems – do a couple per week and you’ll be a machine! However (disclaimer), my Tabata workout kicks it up from 4 minutes to 15 minutes – I must really like to suffer. If it’s too much for you, please stop and catch your breath with extra rest in between exercises.
So, would you rather drink a smoothie on a cold day or have soup on a hot day? What is your favorite soup?
I just can’t help but laugh @ the blog post title. Very creative. Hopefully y’all start seeing some cooler temperatures!
Ha ha, so you got the reference to the children’s book 😉
This soup looks amazing! It’s still hot here in Mississippi, too, but I’m definitely going to be adding this recipe to list for when the next cool-front comes through! 🙂
ok SEROUSLY? O am so so so excited to connect an meet up when I am settled.
For sures! I’ve been keeping my eyes open for the pink Fiat
YUM this looks great! This will only fuel my fall soup addiction 🙂
I love LOVE soup season too!
That stew looks really good – I see meatball stews all over the place and seriously just need to break down and make it one day! And that WOD looks awesome…I’m taking note of that to do later! Gotta love a good tabata! 🙂
It’s super easy to make, especially if you use the premade meatballs from the freezer section!
I’m totally looking forward to a ‘cold front’ in Dallas, too 🙂 Recipe looks delicious!!
I should stop complaining, because we went to an outdoor event last night and it was PERFECT weather — jeans & shirt, not hot, not cold! ahhh
It’s still warm over here too, but I’ll definitely be adding this recipe to try when it cools off a bit!
Thanks Rachel, hope you enjoy!
Smoothie on a cold day. I cannot stand being hot – kind of like RIGHT NOW – it makes me extremely irritable! I seriously wanna punch something right now cause I am so hotttttt!
COOL off girl!
I made a pot yesterday, eating it today for lunch. Thoughts: taste is excellent. I’m about to pair it with some Irish soda bread for sopping the pot liquor. Made it with spinach, collards, chard this time. Spinach wasn’t the best choice; it got squishy and slimy too fast. The greens need more structure to survive the simmer. I believe kale/chard/collards will be the best mix; maybe add some turnip greens for spice. I didn’t have any Great Northerns so I used cannelini. It worked equally well, I think.
I did kale, chard and just a bit of spinach just ’cause I had it mainly —- good to know that too much spinach slim-ifies it. Oooh, soda bread? Homemade?
My favorite soup is Chicken Tortilla, but this soup looks really delicious!!
I just wanted to take a second to personally invite you to be a part of a virtual recipe swap party that I am hosting. I hope you’ll join- there’s sure to be plenty of great recipes and it’s a great way to meet new bloggers!
Check out more info on my blog. http://www.thefoodette.com
Hope to see you there!
Susan
Ooh, can’t beat Chicken TOrtilla – thx – I’ll check out your swap
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Yes, please! I love hearty soups full of vegetables! 🙂
Thanks Erin!