Authentic Pittsburgh-Style Italian Wedding Soup

Servings:  4-6

8 cups of water

6 teaspoons of instant chicken bouillon 

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 large carrots, sliced

2 stalks of celery, sliced

1/4 of an onion, diced

2 breasts of boneless chicken

1/4 teaspoon of Italian seasoning 

Salt and Pepper to taste

6 Publix seasoned meatballs

3/4 cup of frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

1/2 cup of Pastina

*Egg Mixture: 

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons of Romano cheese

Place chicken breasts in a casserole dish, seasoned with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.  While the chicken is cooking, start bringing the water to a boil and add the chicken bouillon.  

In a skillet on medium heat, add the butter, vegetables and garlic.  Cook until vegetables are just tender, about 8 minutes.  Add the vegetables to the broth, cover and let simmer while chicken finishes cooking.  

Take the Publix seasoned meatballs and break them up into smaller meatballs.  You should have 12-15 small meatballs made.  Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.  Once chicken is cooked, shred and add to the broth.  

While the meatballs are cooking, start cooking your pasta as directed on box.  Set aside, do not add to the soup until ready to serve because the pasta will get mushy.   

Once meatballs are cooked, add them to your broth.  Bring your broth to a simmer, if not already, and add egg mixture and spinach.  Let simmer for 20 minutes.  Add pasta to individual bowls and serve! 

*Egg mixture can be found at DeLallo's along with a homemade recipe for meatballs if you so choose.  

Mexican Shrimp Bisque and Oregano-Swiss Bread

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tbs olive oil
• garlic cloves, minced to taste
• 1 tbs flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 tbs chili powder
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
• about a pinch ground cumin
• about a pinch ground coriander 
• 10 uncooked shrimp, rinsed, pealed and deveined 
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Saute onions in the heated olive oil (medium heat) until tender, about 2 minutes.  Add garlic to pan.  Add flour, have water ready to pour in so ingredients in pan don't burn.  Stir in water immediately after flour is mixed in.  Add heavy whipping cream, chili powder, bouillon, cumin, and coriander.  Bring to a light boil then back down to simmer and cover for 5 minutes.

Rinse and cut shrimp into bite-sized pieces.  Add to pan and simmer for another 5 minutes or until shrimp turns white/pink.  It tends to be difficult to see the color change of the shrimp but it should only take about 5 minutes for them to cook.  

Scoop out about a half cup of the soup into a separate bowl and add the sour cream to that.  Fold sour cream in then transfer the soup/sour cream mix back to the pan.  Stir everything together and allow time for all to be heated (do not boil).  

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2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
Handful of fresh oregano, minced
1 tbs of cider vinegar (I'd say more like a tsp b/c the cider taste was very strong)
Loaf of french bread

Combine cheese, mayonnaise, oregano, and vinegar then spread over bread.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Based off of recipes from: tasteofhome Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2010 Cookbook