Bison Meatball Soup

Italian Wedding Soup always sounds so good.  I was originally going to make bison burgers but since I was in the mood for soup I thought the idea of mixing the two sounded even better! 

When you read the ingredient groupings don't be scared.  This is actually from Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals so once you get going it doesn't take that long.  I did use my food processor to chop the veggies though which saved a lot of time.

Bison Meatball Soup

altered from Rachel Ray's Mini Meatball Soup recipe

Ingredients

Group 1
EVOO spray
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 8oz package sliced baby portobello mushrooms
2 bay leaves, fresh or dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Italian seasoning mix, to taste

Group 2
1 lb ground bison
1 egg
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
1 Tbsp coarse ground mustard
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs, a couple of handfuls
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Italian seasoning mix, to taste

Group 3

8 cups chicken broth  
1 cup whole wheat pasta
1 10oz bag of baby spinach

Directions:

1. Heat a Dutch oven over meduim high heat and spray with EVOO spray.  Add the Group 1 ingredients. Cook while you make the meatballs, about 11-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. While the veggies cook, preheat the broiler make the meatballs from Group 2.  Roll into 1-2 inch balls and place on a baking sheet covered in foil.  Place them under the broiler for 6 minutes or until the tops begin to brown.  Turn once and cook an additional 5 minutes.
 3. To the Dutch oven add broth to the pot. Increase heat to high, cover, and bring soup to a boil. When soup boils, reduce heat a bit and add the pasta and meatballs.  Contiunue to simmer as long as the pasta package recommends for cooking for the minumum amount of time. Mine was 8 minutes. 

4. When pasta is tender, remove from heat and stir in the spinach until it wilts.