Creamy Tomato Soup with Meatballs & Orzo

I'm off from work today and wanted to do some cooking. Sooooo I decided to tackle soup, something I have never done! I tweaked the meatballs a bit to be more like my Grandma's, I was just missing the onion (only because I forgot and don't have a car to get some right now!) The soup was really delicious & hearty, and besides the meatballs was super easy. If you take out the meatballs, you can whip this up super quick. I'm very proud of myself!!



Creamy Tomato Soup with Meatballs and Orzo

Meatballs
1 lb ground sirloin
2 slices white bread, wet and shredded
1 medium onion, grated
salt, pepper
1/4 C. grated parmesan cheese (preferably locatelli)
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350
Mix all ingredients well and roll into mini meatballs. Cover cookie sheet with foil and place a cooking rack on top. Put meatballs on the cooling rack and put in oven. cook for 20-25 minutes. (I did not have a cooling rack, it would have worked better)
When finished, take out of oven and set aside.

Tomato Basil soup
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic minced
Basil
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup orzo (raw) cooked according to package directions
1 cup half and half (I use fat-free half & half)
1 stick unsalted butter (you can get away with much less)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Over med. high heat put tomato products, stock, and garlic in a large stock pot. Let come to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add basil, butter and half and half and whisk until well blended.
Add meat balls and orzo and serve with parmesan cheese.

**After making this a few times, I have just used frozen mini-meatballs (Trader Joe's) and I have used MUCH less butter, I may even eliminate it next time.



Source: Culinary Infatuation Blog

Christmas Spritz Cookies!!

We have gone a tad overboard with the Christmas Spirit, and have decided to make Spritz Cookies, just like the old days. I have so many wonderful memories with my mom making these cookies...I hope they come out just as good!!

Spritz Cookies

2 ¼ cups unbleached flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder & salt together in a bowl.
With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is full of fine lumps.
Measure the egg in a measuring cup. A large egg will measure ¼ cup. If it does not, add water to the ¼ cup line.
Add the egg & vanilla extract and beat the mixture very well.
Put through the cookie press on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet at once.





Source: Mom's recipes