Italian Wedding Soup

This recipe was inspired by few recipes that are linked below but I made a few tweaks to make it my own, including making homemade chicken stock to use for this recipe. I'm like a pioneer woman right now. You don't have to do that to make this recipe, store bought stock is fine. This recipe is a bit involved but man it was delicious. So if you have time to make a delicious and clean eating soup, I suggest giving this one a try.


Alton Brown's Baked Meatballs
Ina Garten's Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients:
Meatballs
1 lb of ground bison or lean ground beef
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of rolled oats
1 egg
2 tbsp of italian seasoning
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp of garlic powder
1 tsp fennel seeds or fennel powder
Sprinkling of salt and pepper

Soup
8 cups of chicken stock
2 cups of water
1 large onion, diced
1.5 cups of diced carrots
3 cups of baby spinach, chopped thinly
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped or 2 tsp dried
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped or 3 tsp dried
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped or 2 tsp dried
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp dill
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp of parmesan cheese
1 cup of cooked quinoa

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine all meatball ingredients into a bowl and mix together with your hands until all ingredients are very well mixed.
2. Roll small pieces of the meat mixture into little 1.5 inch high meatballs and place on a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprayed with cooking spray. Should get about 20 meatballs.
3. Put meatballs in the oven for 20 minutes until cooked through.
4. Start the soup by adding onions and carrots to a large soup pot with a little bit of stock. Just enough to water saute the veggies in the stock.
5. After sauteing for 2-3 minutes add the garlic, red pepper flakes, dried dill, italian seasoning and saute until the onions are translucent and carrots are softened. 7-10 minutes on medium heat.
6. Add the rest of the stock and fresh herbs and lemon juice. Bring the soup to a boil and then turned down the heat to a simmer.
7. After the meatballs are done, let them cool and then place them in the soup. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
8. Add chopped spinach and cooked quinoa to the soup. Simmer for 2-3 minutes until spinach is wilted. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste
9. Garnish with parmesan cheese and enjoy!