The newest member of our "family": Italian Wedding Soup

It's been such a busy month that it has taken me a full month to get up to Los Angeles to visit The Actress and Baby A.  But this weekend I finally had time to make the trek!  And lucky for me, Baby A is still teeny tiny!  (Something you have to worry about when you have to wait a month to meet a new little girl.)

I got lots of prime baby holding time while I chatted with The Actress about all the fun aspects of new motherhood, like feeding woes and lack of sleep.  And then we headed out for a walk where we could talk about all the intimate details no one warns you about with birth and which become something completely normal to talk about with your girlfriends after they've had children.

Armani's back at work now, and working some long hours.  I brought up a big bag of dinners for my friends knowing they were probably exhausted in the evenings.  I've seen some controversy about what to bring to new parents which is something along the lines of "UGH!  Please don't bring pasta!  Everyone brings pasta!"  But I am undeterred.  In the first case, not everyone has people bringing them food.  And even when they do, that food is usually long gone after the first couple of weeks.  In the second, new moms are notoriously ravenous.  You burn a lot of calories making milk and feeding it to your young.  And finally, pasta freezes really well, which means you don't have to eat it the day it's brought.  

For The Actress and Armani, I made a lasagna, some baked ziti, and some Italian Wedding Soup.  I didn't have anyone bringing me food after Thatbaby was born, and baked pasta dishes were something I adored.  And this is surely soup season.  Italian wedding soup is one of the easiest in my arsenal.  Because it's just heating up chicken broth and then letting that broth cook your meatballs and orzo.  There's no excess fat in the form of oil or butter, just what's naturally in the chicken broth and meat, so you don't need to feel too guilty about it.  And it has just the right balance of dark green leafy vegetables, carbohydrates, and protein, which makes it the perfect meal for a new mom.

Italian Wedding Soup

1 lb ground turkey

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup parmesean

1 sprig chopped parsley

1 egg

1/2 onion, minced

8 cups chicken broth

1 bunch of spinach, torn

1. Combine the turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, onion, and parmesean in a large bowl.
2. Roll 1 Tbsp of the meat mixture into a ball.  Repeat with all of the meat mixture.
3. Bring the chicken broth to a boil.  Add the meatballs, orzo, and spinach.  Cook for 10 minutes, until orzo is cooked.