Italian Wedding Soup

As I said in my last post, I love soups; especially this time of year. This is the first time I tried this one and Kayla and Brady loved it. Savannah was not a big fan of it, but she had been really sick and not eating anything well so I don't hold it against her. It wasn't very hard either (well, at least my version of it, and if you're familiar with my recipes thus far, you know I like to change them up).

The actual recipe call for making you meatballs from scratch, which I would gladly do if I had 2 more hands to make them with and hold the baby who likes to whine at my feet when I make dinner. I actually used the frozen meatballs from Sam's Club and they turned out great. I just threw them in the pot of boiling soup frozen and it was so easy. I'll provide the meatball recipe for those who feel so inclined to make them from scratch.

2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. bulk Italian sausage

In a large bowl, combine eggs and bread crumbs. Crumble meats over mixture; mix well. Shape into 3/4 in balls. Place meatballs on a greased rack in a foil-lined jelly rolls baking pan. Bake at 250 for 15-18 min.

Soup recipe

3 medium carrots, sliced
3 celery ribs, diced
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 1/2 tsp olive oil
4 cans (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
2 cans beef broth (14 1/2 oz
1 cup frozen spinach leaves
1/4 cup minced fresh basil ( or about 1 tsp dried)
1 envelope onion soup mix
4 1/2 tsp ketchup
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups uncooked penne pasta

Saute onions, carrots, celery, garlic in oil until tender. Sitr in broths, spinach, basil, soup mix, ketchup, thyme and bay leaves. Bring Soup to a boil. Reduce heat, add meatballs and pasta and cook for 13-15 min or until pasta is tender. Discard bay leaves.