Creamy Tomato Meatball Soup with Acini de Pepe

This is one of my FAVORITE soup recipes!  I've never been a huge fan of plain old tomato soup, so I decided to change it up a bit!  This soup is ALWAYS a big hit in my house!  I use Acini de Pepe which is a small round pasta.  If you can't find Acini de Pepe, you can use something like orzo, stars, or even alphabet shaped pasta!  I use ground turkey, but you could certainly use ground beef if you prefer!

Creamy Tomato Meatball Soup with Acini de Pepe

• 2 (28 oz) cans (or 4- 14.5 oz cans) diced tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 large carrots, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 cups chicken stock 
• 8 oz garden vegetable cream cheese
• 1 lb ground turkey 
• 1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated 
• 2 tbsp. Italian herbs (divided- half for the soup, half for the meatballs)
• 1 cup uncooked Acini de Pepe
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, sauté the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic in grape seed (or vegetable) oil for 2-3 minutes or until beginning to sweat.  Add the tomatoes and chicken stock, and half the Italian herbs,  and bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer on medium low about 15 minutes or until carrots are very soft. Meanwhile, mix together  the turkey, worcestershire, breadcrumbs, the rest of the Italian herbs, the eggs, and the parmesan cheese, in a medium bowl.  Using an immersion blender (or a regular blender in batches) puree the soup.  Add the cream cheese and stir gently to start melting it, then use the immersion blender to finish blending it into the soup.  Form meat mixture into small (teaspoon sized- I use a small cookie scoop for this) meatballs and drop them into the soup (they will poach in the soup). Once all the meatballs are added, add the acini de pepe.  Simmer another 10 minutes until the pasta and meatballs are cooked.  Serve with a sprinkling of good parmesan!  YUM!