Italian Wedding Soup

Somehow so light and refreshing. I watch a ton of PBS and I saw Lidia (she has a Italian cooking show) making a variation of this recipe this weekend and I knew I had to make a giant batch. I love making soup not only because I love the flavors but it is the perfect leftover for lunches all week OR a great gift after your mom has surgery. I will say I was lucky to have most of these items in my fridge or pantry and only hard to really buy the spinach and meat. A really good soup for the spring transition we are going through it will make it in the normal soup rotation in our home.

What you need~

Soup-
16 cups of vegetable broth
8 cups of water
1.5 cups of onion (diced)
1 cup of carrots (diced)
1 cup of celery (diced)
1 cup of mushrooms (diced)
1/3 cup garlic (minced)
4 cups of spinach (chopped)
1 cup of orzo
Salt and Pepper to taste


Meatballs-
2 pounds of ground beef
1 cup of parmesan cheese
1.5 cups of bread crumbs (panko)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of parsley flakes






Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Start by sweating down your onions, garlic, celery, carrots and mushrooms for a bit of time. Once they have done this on medium heat for about 4-5 minutes add in your stock and water. Let this shimmer for at least a half hour. While that is going on mix all the meatball ingredients in a large bowl and then roll out 1 inch balls on a greased sheet pan. I had to use two pans I had so many. Pop those in the oven for at least 30 minutes. When the soup has about 10 minutes left add the orzo and then 5 minutes left add the spinach. When the meatballs are done place 3-6 of them in a bowl and top with the soup.

Simmer and simmer.

YUM!

The perfect meatballs.

I really loved this soup and even though the meatballs are long gone at our house the rest of the veggie soup is still really good. Try it sometime.


Until next time~
XoXo Emily