No Money for Milk Soup

I don't have pictures to go with this.  I apologize.  But, it's basically a sort of hodge podge minestrone soup.

While B was living with his sister, there came a night when it was time to cook dinner.  They were broke.  They didn't have enough money to buy a gallon of milk between the two of them, and everything M wanted to make required milk.  She went into the kitchen, and this is what came out of it.

No Money for Milk Soup

Meatballs:
5 lb ground beef
1 lb sausage
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 sleeve saltines - crushed
1 c parmesan cheese
1 tsp tobasco
2 Tbsp dijon mustard

Put everything in a bowl and smoosh it up.  Roll it into balls and fry it.  Drain off the grease periodically, but keep it.  You're going to want it later.  Only half of the meatballs are needed for the soup, and you could honestly get away with 1/3.  Freeze the rest.  You can put them on a cookie sheet to freeze, then once they're frozen solid, transfer them to a bag or a bin for easy scooping later.  This makes a GINORMOUS amount of meatballs.  I mean friggin ungodsly HUGE.  I started frying meatballs at 0800, and didn't finish until around 1400.  That was rolling and dropping as I went.  It *might* have taken less time if I'd rolled the meatballs first then fried them in batches or in the oven, but still... This is a meal you'll dedicate a day to.

Soup:
3 c of a variety of peas/beans.  Whatever happens to be in the freezer or fridge.
2 chopped tomatoes, or a can of diced tomatoes would work, too.
1 chopped onion.  She used a red one, because that's what was in the pantry.  Again, whatever's available.
2 stalks celery - chopped
3 diced potatoes
3 cloves garlic (or a few tsps garlic powder)
6 c beef broth
6 c chicken broth (for the broth, I used bullion cubes)

Seasoning Suggestions:
Cavender's Greek Seasoning
Thyme
Sage
Pepper
Salt
Rosemary
Basil
Bay
Old Bay Seasoning
Oregano
Chili
Cayenne

Rolls:

This is the sum total of the instructions she gave me for the rolls.

Pan drippings
6 Tbsp butter
1 c flour
Soup broth

I skipped the butter, because I didn't have 6 tbsp of butter.  But, I had several cups of pan drippings, so I dumped a lot of pan drippings into the flour, added broth, squished and baked at 350 until they turned brown.

They were sort of dense, like Cheddar Bay biscuits from Red Lobster, and the pan drippings and soup broth gave them a pre-buttered kind of texture and flavor.  They were pretty salty tasting, but were really good under the soup.

This makes a really large batch of soup.  I needed my gallon stock pot for it.  We had a quart left over after eating on it for a day or two, so I tossed that in the freezer.