Meatball Minestrone Soup

I saw this recipe online at Jamie Cooks It Up and decided to try it.  Hubby and the two littles were home to try it out and we got ratings of 9.5 to 10!!  So it's a keeper!!  I actually assembled it Saturday night and plugged it in Sunday morning before church.  We had a meeting at 5 pm so I figured we'd eat early but hubby wanted to eat afterwards so the soup ended up cooking for almost 12 hours!  But it was still absolutely delicious!!  I could see using just browned chopped meat (turkey or beef) in the recipe or even leaving it out for a vegetarian soup if you use vegetable stock.  DEFINITELY try it out!!

(photo credit: from Jamie Cooks it Up since I forgot to take a picture before we ate it!)

Meatball Minestrone Soup

2 (14.5 oz.) cans Italian style stewed tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
4 cups beef broth
1 1/2 cups carrots
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup green beans, fresh or frozen
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans
6 cups (about 1.5 lbs.) Italian meatballs, fully cooked [purchased frozen or homemade]
1 (16 oz) box ditalini pasta or elbow macaroni [I found that I used only about 1/4 of this)
1 (10 oz) can tomato soup
Parmesan cheese

[I'm typing the directions more in my own words because they had listed a lot of steps to basically say "Toss it all in".  LOL ]

1.  Into a large crockpot, mix all ingredients but the macaroni, tomato soup and cheese.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

2.  Add 1 can of tomato soup into the soup and stir.  Cover the soup and let it heat through.  This will thicken the soup just a bit.

3.  Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain.  Either place a portion of pasta in the bowl and serve the soup over the pasta or add in the pasta straight to the soup and stir.

4.  Serve with a bit of grated Parmesan cheese on top.