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Easy Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients: (this makes enough for a meal for two adults and two kids…feel free to adjust the quantities to fit your family)
- 96 oz. of your favorite chicken or vegetable broth
- a glass or two of water
- package of celery, washed and chopped
- package of carrots (I use carrot chips to avoid too much chopping)
- several handfuls of escarole leaves, washed and torn into smaller pieces (you can also use a bag of pre-washed escarole if you can find it!)
- a handful of fresh Italian parsley
- 15-20 frozen meatballs
- sprinkle of black pepper
- tablespoon of grated pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano cheese
- 1/4 box of ditalini pasta
Steps:
1. Pour all the broth and one glass of water into a stockpot and bring to a boil (you can chop/wash vegetables while this is heating up.)
2. Add carrots, celery, escarole, parsley, pepper, and grated cheese.
3. Boil for half an hour with a tilted lid. (If there doesn’t seem to be enough liquid, you can add another glass of water here.) Stir occasionally.
3. Add frozen meatballs and ditalini. Boil for 10 more minutes maximum.
Butter Cookies
Note: this recipe makes about 24 cookie halves, but once you put them together, you’ll have 12 finished cookies. If you need more, double the recipe…or, instead of putting the halves together, you can keep them solo and decorate the top of each with chocolate and sprinkles.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- chocolate chips (you’ll likely use a whole 12-oz. bag)
- lots of rainbow sprinkles
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix butter and sugar with your hands or a big spoon until they’re well-integrated (this takes some time, but don’t use a mixer or melt the butter–trust me!)
3. Add egg, vanilla, and flour.
4. Shape the dough into flat ovals (but don’t make them too thin), the way you expect the finished cookie to look. Space them out on a non-greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake for around 10 minutes, until the edges begin to turn light brown. This varies considerably by oven (sometimes it’s 8 minutes, sometimes it’s 15!) so watch them carefully.
6. While they’re still warm, pair up the ovals by pressing the flat sides together. Now you have a bunch of cookie “sandwiches.”
7. When they’re completely cool, melt the chocolate chips and dip the end of each cookie sandwich into the chocolate, then roll it in sprinkles.