If anyone is interested, here's the recipe we created!

Meatball minestrone

500g mince
2 medium potatoes
2 sticks celery
2 carrots
1 small zucchini
1 onion
1 tomato
1 small/medium green capsicum
3 beef stock cubes
1 can diced tomatoes (400g tin)
1 can chickpeas
¾ cup noodles (shells, spirals, bowties)
2/3 small can tomato paste (170gm tin)
herbs and salt pepper to taste (I used about 2tsp of each of the following: dill tips, Cajun seasoning and paprika and rubbed oregano)


  1. Peel and finely chop all the vegetables and set them aside.
  2. Roll the mince into small balls (roughly a teaspoon of 50c piece)
  3. Turn on a large pan with a small amount of oil, and wait until the pan starts to smoke lightly.
  4. Place meatballs in the pan and seal off
  5. Once meatballs are browned all on the outside place onto a plate (they will cook further when put back in the pan)
  6. Put all the vegetables into the pan with tomato paste and sauté until vegetables start to go tender and add the herbs and spices
  7. Mix stock cubes with about 50ml of hot water until they are dissolved
  8. Add stock cubes and can of diced tomatoes, and 3.5 cans of water with vegetables
  9. Add noodles and chickpeas.
  10. Bring to the boil, then high simmer for roughly 10 minutes, or until potato is cooked.