I never had a particular fondness for Italian Wedding Soup until a recent trip to my hometown Italian restaurant. My dining partner nabbed a bowl of the stuff, and he had to bat my hand away after I’d eaten most of his soup! I was pretty excited when I then stumbled upon recipes for a pasta boasting the same flavors.

Meatballs

• Combine…
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan
  • 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • Garlic salt/pepper to taste
  • 1 pound of ground meat (turkey? beef? pork? You decide!)
• Roll into one inch balls and place in mini muffin tin (should yield 24 meatballs).
• Bake at 400* for 2o-ish minutes.
• Remove to paper towel to drain.

Pasta

• In large stock pot, saute in oil…
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 3 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 T. minced garlic
  • Cook until vegetables begin to soften and onion is translucent
• Add…
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 cup milk or cream
  • Bring to a simmer.
• Stir in one box of elbow macaroni and 1 bag of spinach.
• Simmer until liquid is absorbed, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Return meatballs to pan and allow to heat through before serving with Parmesan cheese.

This rocked! I looooooved the meatballs and about wish I’d have made twice as many. Big shout out to my mom for recommending that I cook the meatballs in a mini muffin tin. It made the process quite easy, and I was able to cut back on the fat by not pan frying.