Pizza Soup

Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3 (ZReboot) recipe

Want all the flavors of pizza without the crusty carbs? This is it.

Make this for the whole gang and watch a movie on a cold evening. You can even make a big batch of this and serve it for a football party. Tailgate too.

 

Servings: This makes 6 servings.  You can freeze extras. It also reheats well at the office or for another day. Each serving is 1.5 cups

 

Ingredients: You can vary the ingredients based on what you like on your pizza. I chose the really popular stuff, but if you like, for example, artichokes on your pizza, those can go in the soup. You can vary the peppers, add mushrooms… you get the idea.

 

For the soup broth:

  • 1 Tbl of olive oil
  • 1-1/2 cups of chopped celery
  • 1-1/2 cups of chopped red onion
  • 1 small green pepper, diced
  • 1 cup of organic vegetable broth
  • 1 cup of organic beef broth
  • 1 20 oz. can of crushed organic tomatoes (no sugar)
  • 1 Tbl minced garlic
  • ¼ tsp of cracked pepper flakes (if you like your pizza to have some zip)
  • 4 meatballs from the deli section. Sometimes I’m too busy to make meatballs. You can buy them in most deli sections now. Depending on the size, you will want about 30 chunks of meatball. I take the larger meatballs and cut them into 8 pieces each. It’s a little messy with the tomato sauce on them but it just adds to the sauce. The meatballs are standing in for sausage. You could buy sausage and use blobs of that or cut sausages into chunks. Just remember if you use those you have to cook them first.
  • 2 cups of pepperoni chunks. I get a stick of pepperoni. Take off the skin (if it’s thick) and cut into cubes. You can even use small pieces of pepperoni or even cut slices into chunks. You decide your favorite. If you use sliced pepperoni you don’t need 2 cups.
  • 2 – 4 handfuls of spinach, washed and chopped or baby spinach leaves will work too. The amount of spinach you add it up to you. These are suggested amounts.
  • Grated parmesan cheese (optional)

 

Instructions:

Put the olive oil in the bottom of your soup pot or Dutch oven. Heat and add the celery, green pepper and onion. Saute on medium just until they loosen up.

Add the garlic and stir. Then add the veggie broth and the beef broth as well as the crushed tomatoes. Stir and begin to heat on medium high. You want to bring it up to a low boil. Add the optional cracked pepper flakes, the meatball chunks and the pepperoni.  Heat the whole pot of soup. Let bubble for about 10 minutes to heat the meats in the soup and finish cooking the veggies. Then add your chopped spinach. Stir just until the spinach wilts. You are ready to serve.

Dust the top of the bowl of soup with grated parmesan if you like.

 

Enjoy!

Cheers,