I’m proud of my kids. Oh, you have noticed that? Yep, it’s true. I have 4 kids, all different, but each amazing in my book.

One of the things I did with the three youngest was to teach them how to cook. We did it as a fun activity, as we all made dinner together for years. My kids are now adults, and they will ask me for the recipes that we made together. However, there is an additional twist to this story: I now ask them for their recipes too!

My one daughter loves the website budgetbytes.com, which offers simple, economical recipes. For the last year, she has made Italian Wedding Soup from a recipe there. It is part of her regular dinner rotation. She will make a pot of soup and then divide it into individual containers, giving her around 4 days of dinners. This allows for an easy meal when she comes home from work. “Dad, you have to try this soup. You can make it in under an hour, and it is delicious!” Well, I had to try it, and she was right.

My son is in graduate school and still lives with us. He was my co-captain on this recipe, which made its assembly even simpler. Has inflation and the Trump tariff taxes got you down? Try cooking at home to save money!

Let’s get into it.

Put all of the ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl and mix them up. The best way to do this is with clean hands, but you do you.

Form the mixture into small meatballs, using about 1 tablespoon of mixture for each. I initially used a cookie scoop, but I found that it was easier to eyeball the amount. Here too, hands work the best. Set the meatballs aside.

Finely chop the vegetables. Here is an example of the size you should have.

Add some oil to a large pot and saute the onions using medium heat. After a minute or two, add the garlic. I’m using jar garlic, but regular cloves would be best. To be honest, I almost always use jar garlic as I have it on hand.

Add the chopped celery and carrots and mix them in. Cook the mixture for another couple of minutes. Stir now and then.

The vegetables will look more translucent as they soften.

Now add the Italian seasoning. If you don’t have Italian seasoning, you could use oregano. I “cooked” the seasoning for around 30 seconds to allow it to bloom.

Now add 6 cups of chicken broth. I’m using the boxed stuff, but you could also use a chicken base. My daughter often uses bouillon cubes. Best would be homemade stock.

Bring the soup to a boil and drop in the meatballs. I’m using my hand, but you can use a spoon. Drop them close to the boiling soup to prevent spraying the hot soup on you. The meatballs need to cook for around 10 minutes before you go on to the next step.

Now add 1/2 cup of a “small pasta”. I’m using orzo. I’ll continue cooking the soup for 9 minutes, or until the orzo is soft. There is a lot of boiling going on, so you may be evaporating quite a bit of the liquid. This can make the soup too salty. If that is the case, just add some water back to the soup (around 1/2 to 1 cup) to rebalance the salt. Taste before you do this.

You can also reduce evaporation by covering the pot. You may have to turn down the heat to prevent a boil-over, as the cover will trap more heat.

When the soup is completely cooked, add around 4 cups of spinach. I just eyeballed it and added the spinach by the handful.

The spinach will wilt in a few seconds. Soup is served!

I topped my bowl with a little Parmesan Cheese and served it with a crescent roll. It was delicious! Three adults ate the soup, and at least two portions remain for lunch. This soup is very economical. Its taste is familiar, yet slightly exotic. A great soup to add some variety to any rotating meal plan. It was simple to make and uses very basic ingredients. The meatballs added something, and they were also simple to make. We will definitely make this soup again.

Peace

Mike