After an extremely bad day yesterday. (Delivery of Washer and dryer resulted in a washer being dropped on my new hardwood stairs!!!). I decided not to return to work and fix some comfort food--soup. This is Italian Wedding Soup.
3 qts. Chicken stock (I make my own, but the low sodium boxes are good too.
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried)
1 tsp fresh marjoram (or ½ dried)
1 tsp ground pepper
2 cloves garlic-minced
1 onion-diced
1 celery stalk-diced
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup small shaped pasta (cooked separately)
Salt to taste
Lots of fresh spinach
Meatballs
1 lb. ground chicken, turkey, or beef
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
½ cup parmesan cheese
Italian bread crumbs
Mix all of the above, save bread crumbs. Slowly mix in the Italian bread crumbs until mixture will form a good meatball. Make into meat balls, for the soup I like them small, 40+ from 1 lb.
Bring stock to simmer with herbs. Once simmering, add raw meatballs(they will cook in the broth) and vegetables. When the carrots are tender, add the cooked pasta to soup.
To serve:
Place several (9 or more) leaves of fresh stemmed spinach in a bowl. Ladle soup into bowl and serve immediately. Goes great with a crusty bread and some extra parmesan.