Italian Wedding Soup

It was somewhat chilly last week. This week, somewhat different. Kind of like t-shirt and sweatpants weather. Nonetheless, I made this soup last week, when it was chilly and I wanted a warm up. It's a pretty straight forward soup, and the flavors are just spot on. And by the way, sorry for the lack of updating lately. It's getting to be the end of the semester and seems like professors want to jam pack everything all at the end, so I've been super busy... but yet I've still been cooking up a storm! Just not posting them as frequently. Thanksgiving Break will come as a relief and I'm sure many many posts.

Ingredients:
adapted from Rachel Ray's recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg, beaten
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1 & 1/2 cups mixture of bowtie and elbow macaroni pasta
2 cups fresh spinach, washed and drained

This is a pretty simple recipe and can be done in a flash when you have that craving for the perfect soup.

Heat the oil under medium heat in a deep pot. Add the carrots, celery, onions, and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper and cover pot. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring about once or twice in between.

While you're waiting for the veggies, you can make your mini-meatballs. Combine the ground beef, egg, garlic, cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Uncover your pot of vegetables and add in broth and water. Increase heat to high and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to low once mixture comes to a boil.

Form mini meatballs with the meat mixture and as each one is done, drop into liquid. When all of meat mixture is used up add in pasta and stir. Cover the pot, increase heat just a tad, and cook for about 10 minutes, when your pasta is al dente or to your liking. Once your pasta is tender, add in the spinach. Stir until spinach is wilted. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly.

This is great with a nice piece of crunchy bread or all by itself! The flavors "marry" so well together, and that's why it's called Italian WEDDING Soup. Enjoy!