A Good Bowl of Soup

This is our family’s favorite soup, a very garlicky Italian Wedding Soup.  This really is a meal in a bowl, along with a whole lot of warming comfort. 

This recipe makes enough to feed 8.

Italian Wedding Soup

For the meatballs:

1 lb. lean ground beef or turkey, or a combination of both

1/4 C. bread crumbs

1 egg

1 Tbsp. Worcetershire sauce

1 clove garlic, minced fine

salt and pepper to taste

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and combine thoroughly.  Shape into meatballs as small as you can.  ( I use a very small ice cream scooper that is meant specifically for truffle-making.)

In a large pot,  on medium heat 2 tbsp. olive oil.  Lightly brown the meatballs, about 5 minutes.  When all sides are brown, add:

3 cartons (26 oz.) Beef Stock (I used Swanson’s stock, not broth)

1 slivered garlic clove

4-5 handfuls of baby spinach

2 cups *cooked* small pasta such as pastina, orzo or acini di pepe

Taste, and adjust seasonings if necessary and serve steaming hot, garnished with a little parmesan cheese. 

Soup’s on…

Summer or Autumn…?

By the looks of things, and the tastes of things around my house, it seems more like late summer than Auturmn.  But I’m not complaining. 

While on a walk with my wee Isabel, we came upon the biggest and happiest hydrangea bush.  In the fall, after a summer of being all pinky and blueish, hydrangeas sometimes decide to fit in with all the other autumnal colors and they go plum and mauve and rustic looking.

I had this very kind of hydrangea in my wedding bouquet on a beautiful late October day 10 years ago. 

The other bit of summer happened here yesterday.  Every wednesday, I have 5-6 of my daughter Suzannah’s friends over for ‘crafty club’.  We’ve made pincushins, applesauce, stepping stones, and germinated seeds  to name a few things.  Yesterday, after buying strawberries from one of our many local farms, we made some jam.  I gave them real knives and gave them a quick lesson in knife safety and away they went.  They were really serious and chopped up the berries and had brightly crimson-stained fingers.  They cut away slightly fuzzy bits and they lopped off the stems.  Some had the job of mashing, some measured sugar, some juiced lemons and they all had turns stirring and scraping off the foam while it all bubbled on the stove.  Great success!

They were so proud of their work and everyone took home a jar.