Grandma Kest's Christmas Soup

I know, David, you hate this stuff. But some of us loooove it. Mm mm good!

GRANDMA KEST'S CHRISTMAS SOUP
Soup:
2 packages meaty soup bones
1 gallon water
1 onion, chopped
¼ cup barley
1 large can tomatoes
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste
allspice to taste

Meatballs:
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
¼ cup onion, diced
about ½ cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
dash of nutmeg
dash of allspice

In a large soup pot, combine bones and water. Add onion and bring to a boil; cover and boil gently 3-4 hours. Remove bones. Add barley and cook 30 minutes.

While barley is cooking, in a food processor whirl together all ingredients for meatballs until meat mixture is smooth and there are no visible chunks of onion. Roll mixture into walnut-sized balls and add them directly to soup when the 30 minutes are up. Cook another 20 minutes.

(At this point you may refrigerate the soup and skim the fat from the top, then reheat, but it's completely up to you.)

Strain canned tomatoes directly into the soup, then add remaining ingredients, heat through and serve.

Makes a whole lotta soup, and happy people if they happen to like homemade tomatensoep met balletjes, which is the Dutch name for it.

Contributor: Catharina Kest