Soup is better for Winter than Summer

I knew this, it makes sense, but did that keep me from putting soup on the menu for this week? No. And so our mouths and tummies were happy and our bodies were sweaty and hot. Now our house is already a nice little oven so cranking up the heat in the kitchen doesn't help one bit. But as I said, dinner did make our tummies very happy and that's because I made Italian Wedding Soup!

Probably the best part was that I got to make it in my NEW pot! My pots and pans arrived from Costco today. Yay!

This is SUCH an easy recipe. My mom and I got it from our family friend. There really isn't anything to do except put everything in the pot.

You need 3 boxes of chicken broth, 1 cup of orzo pasta, about 30 frozen meatballs, 4-5 carrots (I had baby carrots so just used 3x as many), half an onion, fresh or dry basil and S&P. My grocery store only had fresh basil in a HUGE bundle so I went with dried.

Now the way I got this recipe from my friend is really just the list of ingredient and not so much the "how to" part. But the way I did it worked and I really don't think you can mess it up.

First pour the broth into your pot and begin cooking it at a medium-high heat.

 

I sliced up my carrots as thin as I could so they wouldn't take too long to cook. Add those to the broth.

 

Then I chopped up my onion and added that.

 

I forgot to take a picture, but next I added the meatballs. You have to lower them in or else the hot broth splashes all over. Oh, and you can put them right in frozen, you don't need to thaw or anything.

So then right before I went to add the orzo pasta, I realize...pasta is usually added to boiling water. Hmm..maybe this should be boiling and it would also help cook the meatballs and veggies. Okay so crank it up to high and cover to bring to a boil. Then I added my orzo and kept it on high for 9 minutes with the lid off.

While my soup was cooking, I got started on the biscuits. I just followed the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box for drop biscuits. (notice how with all my meals I seem to always make one thing from scratch and one from a box? well, ya I do...get over it :) !) It was 2 1/4 cups of mix and 2/3 cup of milk. I of course used parchment paper...love not having to wash the pan and worry about sticking biscuits. Oh, and you may already know this...but I learned from experience...a whisk is not a good utensil to use for biscuit dough. It just got all clumped up and not mixed.

Mmmm...the soup is looking good! With most soups, I think you can just let them simmer on the stove for as long as you want. I checked with my husband to see how hungry he was and since he wanted to eat sooner than later, this wasn't going to be a simmery soup. I spooned up a good selection of the ingredients to check for doneness. Orzo pasta should be cooked and soft, carrot should be soft, and meatball should be warm all the way through. It was ready!

Here are the biscuits! I don't have a bread basket or cloths yet so I improvised by using an empty basket that usually goes on my desk and paper towels. Biscuit tip: the recipe says 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. I went 10 minutes and then a little...I probably should have taken them out at 8. They weren't bad at all. Just a little crispy on the bottom. Oh well. Live and learn. And butter and honey are great ways to fix a little burnt taste.

Voila! It was yummy! While we were eating...I said to my husband, "I think this recipe would be better in the fall or winter; I didn't need extra heat today." But it was GOOD!