How perfect is Italian Wedding Soup on Valentines? It says it all; comfort, home, warmth, love, Italian-ness... best of all, its easy. My little boy Valentines like it too!

Here's what you'll need for the meatballs:

1 lb ground turkey
5 links Italian chicken sausage, casings removed
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2 white onion, grated or minced
2/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
fresh parsley, small handful, chopped
salt & pepper
2 tbsp. olive oil

Gently combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Create 1 inch balls and set aside until ready to brown.

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Brown meatballs on all sides 8-10 minutes total, set aside. Brown in batches.

For the soup:

3 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
32 oz box of chicken stock
White wine, a splash
1 cup of small cut pasta. We used Stelline
baby spinach or escarole, a small bunch, washed and roughly chopped

Heat the olive oil pn medium-high heat in the (unwashed) Dutch oven, (the brown bits from the meatballs adds delicious flavor). Add the chopped onion, carrots and celery, season with salt & pepper, and cook for about 5-8 minutes. Add wine and cook for a 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken stock, meatballs and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add the greens and cover for 1 minute until wilted. Salt & pepper until you love it.

Cook the pasta in a separate pot according to package instructions and add desired amount of cooked pasta to each serving of soup. OR Stir in the pasta and cook for 8 minutes, until pasta is cooked.

*When heating left-over soup, the pasta gets too soft and I cringe. To avoid this, I cook the pasta separate. If you don't mind, or you don't care for left-overs, feel free to just cook the pasta to the soup pot.