So, I haven't posted in forever. My maternity leave ended, so things like blogging, working out, and sleeping got pushed aside. I have managed to keep cooking dinner almost every night though! I have to say, I'm pretty proud of that. One way I do this is by planning a series of meals that all stem from one main item that I can make on a weekend. Meatballs were the first item I chose. On Sunday, I made meatballs and Italian wedding soup. I used 1/2 of the meatballs in the soup and froze the other 1/2. We had the soup for dinner that night and for several lunches throughout the week. Then later in the week, I reheated enough of the meatballs to make meatball subs. The remainder of the meatballs became spaghetti and meatballs for my husband one evening when I was out. I'll post the meatball recipe later this week, but for now here is the Italian Wedding soup recipe. I made this recipe up based on about 4 I found online and in my cookbooks. I really love how it came out. Aside from making the meatballs, it's also really simple. It is a nice hearty soup, perfect on a rainy, chilly day (which we have had plenty of recently) with some crusty bread.
Italian Wedding Soup
1lb uncooked meatballs
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup onion, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced or pushed through a garlic press
1 bay leaf
6 cups of chicken broth (I used 4 cups + 2 cups of water with 2tsp Better than Boullion)
2 cups of water
1/2 cup dry white wine
1.5 cups uncooked pasta
6 stalks of swiss chard, middle stem removed, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
Melt butter in large saucepan or dutch oven. Saute onion, garlic, carrot and celery until soft. Add wine and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken broth, water, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Add meatballs and pasta, lower heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through and pasta is done. Add swiss chard and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cheese.
Serve hot. This recipe makes about 6 servings unless your father, brother, and husband are all eating it.
Notes:
*Reheat over low if you won't be eating until later
*You could probably make this with frozen meatballs, but I think one reason I like it so much is that the meatballs cook right in the soup adding a nice flavor that already cooked meatballs would not.
*Once everything is added to the soup, you may want to add another cup or so of water depending on how much broth you like in your soup
*You may need to play around with the overall broth-to-water ratio depending on the type pf chicken broth you use. I originally used all broth and no water and felt it overpowered te flavor the vegetables and meatballs gave the soup
*Feel free to use a different green (escarole, spinach, etc.) depending on what you like and what's in season
Sorry there are no pics, but, hey, at least I'm posting!
