Most of the children at our West Island daycare tend to cringe at the sight of green leafy vegetables, but not in the case of this delicious soup. Every time we serve it, they love it and eat tons! They even eat the kale enthusiastically!
Here is one of the children specifically picking out the kale to eat! He enjoyed slurping up the longer pieces like spaghetti.
Italian Wedding soup is super simple to prepare and the recipe can be altered to suit your tastes. The bowl of soup in the first photo was made with barley but it can be made with orzo or another pasta in its place. Today we opted to not put any grain in the soup and instead served it with whole wheat crackers to balance out the meal. Our meatballs were beef, but we’ve had turkey in the past, and it could easily be made with pork or any other ground meat.
Italian Wedding Soup (Serves 4)
Modified from here
Ingredients:
Meatballs – 1/2 to 1 pound of ground meat, prepared and cooked. (The chef won’t give away his super secret meatball recipe! You can find a recipe at the link above or use your own.)
5.5 cups of Chicken broth – This can be purchased or home made, depending on your preference.
2 cups of chopped Kale (We leave the pieces quite large, but you can make them as small or large as you like)
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese to taste – Optional
Directions:
1 – Prepare and cook your meatballs.
2 – In a large pot heat the broth until boiling.
3 – Stir in the kale and meatballs. (At this point, you can add barley or orzo, or any other grain you would like.) Return to a boil and reduce heat to medium.
4 – Cook for 15-20 minutes until the kale is soft.
5 – Add salt, pepper, and Parmesan to your taste.
6 – Serve and enjoy!
