Sick Day Soup

Evidently, more than a week of vacation was not enough for this little worker bee, as I came home last night from work freezing and sweating at the same time, achey, tired, and miserable.  Sick day.  From the time I first had my own kitchen back in college, sick day meant soup day.  I've never been a fan of chicken soup, but today I managed to turn ingredients already in the house into a simple turkey meatball soup from that was nourishing and warming.  The vegetables add lots of vitamins, and onions, garlic, and turmeric have great antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.  Just what the doctor ordered.


Turkey Meatball Soup

As usual, this recipe is a guideline.  Feel free to swap out vegetables, meats, liquids, seasonings to suit your own taste and the contents of your own kitchen.

1/4 lb ground turkey
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbs bread crumbs
1 clove garlic
1/2 small onion
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste

1/4 cup diced carrots
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 Tbs white wine (optional, don't open a bottle just for this, especially if you're sick!)
3 cups broth (I used a combination of vegetable broth and water)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
2 cups fresh spinach leaves (I used bagged baby spinach)

Make meatballs:  In a bowl, combine turkey, oil, parsley, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper. Mince garlic, and add half; retain remaining garlic.  Grate in about 1 Tbs of onion; thinly slice remaining onion.  Smoosh together mixture with your hands and form into six meatballs.  Heat a small pot over medium-high heat and add olive oil.  Brown meatballs in the pot.  Note that browned bits will stick to the bottom of the pot:  this is okay.  Meatballs do not need to cook through at this stage, they just need to get some brown on the outside for better flavor.  Remove meatballs from pot and retain them on a plate.

Lower heat to medium.  Add onions, carrots, and turmeric, and cook until onions begin to get translucent, stirring occasionally to combine.  Deglaze the pot:  add wine (if you are using) or a bit of broth, and use a spatula to scrape up bits of browned turkey from the bottom of the pot.  Allow wine to simmer for 2 minutes.  Add broth and herbs, and return meatballs to the pot.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add spinach, stir to incorporate, and cook until spinach is heated through, about 2 minutes. 

Note:  I used ground turkey that was 99% fat free.  If you are using fattier meat, omit the oil from the meatballs.