I'm heeeeeeeeeere! :-)

Hello, faithful blog readers! It's funny how I stopped nagging Kira to post here every day once she invited me to become a co-poster. ;-) After three weeks, I have finally gotten so sick of eating out that I spent the evening cooking up a storm (pepper steak! soup! no-bake cookies! granola bars! zucchini muffins!) and I'd like to share one of the recipes with you.

I've been a major baby lately about the winter weather, and one of the ways I've been "coping" has been to eat soup for lunch and dinner. It's probably the least weird of my coping mechanisms, and doesn't usually get me the same kinds of looks as wearing a scarf all day at work or wearing a coat for an hour after I've gotten home does. Anyway, here is the recipe that served as the inspiration for the soup I made tonight:

Italian Wedding Soup Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis Show: Everyday Italian

Meatballs: 1 small onion, grated 1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley 1 large egg 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 teaspoon salt 1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces 1/2 cup grated Parmesan 8 ounces ground beef 8 ounces ground pork Freshly ground black pepper Soup: 12 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1 pound curly endive, coarsely chopped (1 pound of escarole would be a good substitution) 2 large eggs 2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish Salt and freshly ground black pepper To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet. To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and curly endive and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.

Thank you, Giada, that sounds delicious but time-consuming. Additionally, I have zero patience for making meatballs and even if I could find escarole or endive at our yucky grocery store, I would have no interest in ingesting either. Here is the recipe as I made it tonight:

2.5 boxes chicken stock
1 box frozen spinach
1 bunch parsley
2 eggs
2 tbs parsley
2 c dry egg noodles
2/3 pkg trader joe's mini meatballs
15 cranks of the pepper grinder

In a large stockpot, bring 10 cups of chicken stock and two cups of water to a boil. For me, using 12 full cups of store-bought chicken stock would be wayyyyyyyy too salty, so if I don't have any homemade chicken stock on hand (or am too lazy to thaw it), I add water. Once, it's boiling, reduce heat to medium and add everything else and cook for about 8-9 minutes, or until noodles and meatballs are cooked. Reduce heat and add the eggs beaten with parmesan, making sure to temper the eggs first by gradually adding about 1/2 cup of the hot broth to the eggs before drizzling the eggs into the soup. If you don't, you'll end up with scrambled egg chunks in your soup and this is not very appetizing. For me, serving with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese is a must!

Enjoye! :-)