italian wedding soup

with turkey, spinach & pasta

This recipe is a nice alternative from the traditional chicken soup I make often, which I love. For this soup, I used a recipe from AllRecipes.com (Mama’s Italian Wedding Soup) as inspiration. Although the meatballs took a while to create, it was all worth it once it was done. I am excited to eat it for my lunch this week!

makes: about 13 cups

ingredients
1 pound ground turkey, extra-lean
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon basil, dried
½ cup onion, minced
2 teaspoons oil

1 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
64 ounces chicken broth
2 cups spinach, thinly sliced
1 cup seashell pasta, dry
¾ cup carrots, diced
salt & black pepper, to taste

directions
step 1 In a medium bowl, combine the ground turkey, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, basil and minced onion. Season with salt and pepper. Using your hands, shape the mixture into ¾-inch balls and set aside. If the meat seems too wet, add more breadcrumbs.

step 2 In a medium frying pan, add 2 teaspoons of oil and heat till hot on medium-high. Add the meatballs, careful not to overcrowd — you may need to cook them in 2 batches. Cook till all sides are brown and the centres are no longer pink. Remove from heat.

step 3 In a large pot, or Dutch oven, add the garlic and chopped onion. Cook on medium till fragrance — about 2 mins. Turn up the heat and add the chicken broth till boiling. Once boiling, stir in the spinach, pasta, carrots, cooked meatballs and 1 ½ cups of water. Season with salt and pepper. Return to boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Cook at a slow boil for 10 minutes or until pasta is al dente. Serve hot with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.