Sopa de Albóndigas...with a little Swedish thrown in

So I've had this bag of IKEA meatballs sitting in the bottom of my freezer for...I don't know how long, but I'm pretty certain it's more than a year and a half.  Yikes.  I totally would have gobbled those suckers up by now, but I started this whole Weight Watchers thing about a year ago, and my eating habits have changed a lot.  The meatballs themselves aren't that bad, but the sauce you put on them, the carbs you put them over, etc....I just didn't fit it into my plan, and then I forgot I had them.  So anyways, meatballs in serious need of being used.  I also had some zucchini that was probably on its last day or two of acceptable usage.  Combine that with the fact that I've been a little nostalgic for the food I used to get in Los Angeles, and now I'm starting to get ideas.  Sopa de albóndigas, aka Mexican meatball soup!

You could obviously make your own meatballs for this, and here's an interesting recipe for the whole shebang: http://www.food.com/recipe/best-albondigas-soup-107281

But, I had these things around, and they saved me a lot of time and ingredients.  The fact that they're already cooked helps not only with time, but also with avoiding meatball disintegration.  So I approve of this shortcut...just don't call me Sandra Lee, because I'll cut you.

I know, I know, it's totally not kosher to use Swedish meatballs in a Mexican soup.  (Oh no, look what I did there, throwing a third cuisine into the mix!)

Ingredients:

1  1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow or white onion (about half large one)
2 ribs celery, chopped (works out to around 3/4 cup)
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped (works out to about a generous cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin (I'm a cumin fiend, so I use a lot, but you could reduce it to 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp dried oregano (If you've got fresh, go ahead and use that, but you'll need slightly more)
1/2 tsp chili powder
64 oz chicken broth (That's 2 of the cartons.  I use fat free, reduced sodium.)
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes (I like to use no salt added)
32 small meatballs (approximate - use as many as you want)
1 large zucchini (zucchino?), quartered and diced (works out to around 1 1/2 cups)
Juice of 1/2 a lime (or more if you want...I just had half a lime leftover from something else)
Hot sauce to taste (probably around 20 dashes, depending on what sauce you use)

Heat a large Dutch oven or medium stock pot over medium high.  Add olive oil and allow to coat the pan.  Add onions, celery, and carrots.  Cook while stirring for 30 seconds, then add garlic.  Sweat veggies down for a few minutes (6-8 minutes?), then add cumin, oregano, and chili powder.  Stir and cook for 30 seconds or so.

Add chicken broth and tomatoes (with their juice) and bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or so.

Increase heat to about medium and add meatballs to soup.  Let heat through for about 5 minutes. (Note: I increased the heat at this stage because the meatballs were frozen and would lower the temp of the soup really quickly.  You'll reduce the heat again after the 5 minutes.)

Reduce heat and add zucchini.  Cook for 3-4 minutes.  (Note: You really don't want to overcook the zucchini, and it will continue to cook as the soup sits, with reheating, etc., so don't overdo it on the time here.)

Remove the soup from the heat and add the lime juice and hot sauce.  I used Louisiana hot sauce, because that's what I had.  It's not as spicy as some other hot sauces, so I used about 25 dashes to make it on the lower end of medium spicy.  You'll just have to add however much you want of whatever hot sauce you have.  I trust you.

And here's the finished product:

Om nom nommmmm....

This recipe will make about 8 first-course servings, with 4 meatballs each.

And, for your viewing pleasure, today's media pairing is a live-action 60-second remake of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: