Italian Wedding Soup (from Ina Garten)

I love this soup! It's hearty with the zesty meatballs and all the healthy veggies, and it's so comforting on cool nights. We had another cold snap earlier this week, so I made this delicious soup. I've made it before, but just now have tweaked it to our liking.
The recipe calls for ground chicken for the meatballs, but our stores rarely have it, so I use ground turkey most of the time. Ground beef also makes some tasty meatballs. This recipe makes a bunch of soup, plenty for company. But if you are going to make it for just 2 or 3, I advise you to cook the pasta separately, and add it to the bowls individually when you are ready to serve the soup. The pasta really soaks up the broth if cooked in it and then not eaten right away. This soup is delicious on it's own, but also good with a salad and some crusty bread. The meatballs have tons of flavor and the veggie filled broth is super good. Hope you'll give it a try!

Italian Wedding Soup
Adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients:
For meatballs:
3/4 pound ground turkey (or ground chicken or beef)
1/2 pound turkey sausage, casings removed ( or again, chicken, beef,)
2/3 cup fresh, white breadcrumbs
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons milk
1 large egg, beaten
salt and pepper- I only use about 1/8 teaspoon salt because the cheese is salty. But I'm also a low salt cook, so use your judgement.

For the Soup:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup minced yellow onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup diced carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
10 cups homemade chicken stock, (or use canned, low sodium chicken broth or stock)
1 cup small pasta-I used Ditalini
2 teaspoons dried oregano
about 6-8 ounces kale, washed and chopped-about 4 cups or more (may sub spinach if preferred)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl combine the ground turkey, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, cheese, milk egg, salt and pepper and mix with a fork. With a spoon drop about 1 inch meatballs onto a parchment or foil lined baking sheet. You'll have around 40 meatballs. Bake for about 30 minutes.

While meatballs are cooking, heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a heavy soup pot. Add the chopped onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Saute until softened, about 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock or broth and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook about 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the kale, meatballs and the oregano or other herbs of choice, and simmer about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into soup bowls and top with Parmesan cheese. Yum! Enjoy with bread and/or salad!