Slow Cooker Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup With Cheesy Meatballs.

In all honesty this was purely designed as a throw everything in the slow cooker and save myself having to use the stove the day after having some epileptic seizures. The joys of being disabled….

This is a soup that I make quite often for four very simple reasons:

• It’s really easy and if you’ve been following my blog you’ll have realised just how much I love recipes that take little to no work to get results.
• It’s delicious and filling in equal measure.
• It can easily be turned into a vegetarian/ vegan dish if my non-carnivorous friends pop in for lunch or dinner. This is achieved by, not having the meatballs or cheese and changing the chicken stock to vegetable. Easy!
• Finally, it’s crazy healthy as it (if you leave out the meatballs and cheese) requires no fat/ oil and the tomatoes add in a lot of nutritional value. Yay!

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Ingredients: serves 4

Soup:

1 large potato washed and chopped (no need to peel)

1 large onion, peeled and quartered.

900g fresh tomatoes (I used a mixture of plum and cherry as my local shop had them on offer).

460g Jar of Roasted red peppers, drained.

2tsp Sugar.

2 Cloves garlic (peeled and crushed).

1tsp Tabasco sauce.

750ml Chicken stock.

1/2 tsp Dried mixed herbs.

1tsp Dried basil.

1/4tsp

Meatballs:

500g Lean beef mince.

1 Medium egg.

75g Grated cheese (I used mature cheddar).

1tbsp Tomato puree.

1tsp Mixed herbs.

Salt and pepper (a sprinkle).

1tbsp Olive oil.

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Method:

1. Place all of the soup ingredients except the tin of chopped tomatoes into the slow cooker and stir. Place the lid on and cook on low for four hours.
2. Meanwhile place all of the meatball ingredients into a large bowl (except the oil) and stir until it’s well combined.
3. Put the olive oil into a large frying pan.
4. Roll the mix into 16 evenly sized balls and place into the frying pan and fry on a medium heat, turning regularly until all sides are browned.
5. Place them on a plate and dab gently with some kitchen towel to soak up some of the oil.
6. Using a stick blender, blend the soup until it is smooth.
7. Stir in the tin of chopped tomatoes and add in the meat balls then place the lid back on.
8. Cook for a further 1 hour on low and then serve with a sprinkle of cheese on the top and some fresh bread to the side.

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