Secret recipes handed down by ninjas.

Hi all!

So last night, I was at the store. It’s almost mid April, so of course, it’s snowing like crazy. Picked up some goods so I could make some hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps for me and a friend. We needed a movie night. I wanted to keep the cozy theme, so I thought some soup would be good. Chicken stars and noodles, right? Hells yeah! But alas, the store had no star noodles. I was crestfallen. I did however notice some Acini Di Pepe pasta, and it made me think of Italian Wedding soup. I’ve only had it in canned form, but it was pretty freakin tasty.

I came up with an idea. I would make this pasta, on my own, cause my ninja copy-fu is just that awesome. Here we go!

Things you need:
1 cup uncooked Acini Di Pepe pasta
8 cups Chicken Broth
1 bunch fresh Spinach
3 large Roma Tomatoes
1 medium White Onion
1 Pkg. Italian Sausage (about 5 links, you can subsitute other kinds, my personal favorite is here
1 can Cooked Chicken Meat (Or cook and shred your own chicken breast)

Optional (But VERY recommended):
Mozzarella Cheese, grated
1 tbs. Cayenne Pepper
1 tbs. crushed Garlic

Cooking-fu:
The optionals, I strongly recommend the Cayenne Pepper and Garlic. It’s great during the flu season for immunity boosting fun, and who doesn’t like a little kick, or keeping away vampires? Not me. BRING IT ON!

Also, it’s worth noting, there’s two ways going about this soup, depending if you want a thin broth, or something that sticks to your ribs. If you want something a little thicker, boil the uncooked pasta IN the soup. If you want thin and clear, cook it ahead of time and add it at the end. In the recipe, we will assume you’re cooking the pasta IN the soup.

Prepping Instructions:
1. Cook and shred chicken, if you didn’t buy canned.
2. Dice the tomatoes into 1/4 inch squares.
3. Slice the fresh spinach into strips. remove the stems.
3. Dice the onions about the same. saute them with a little butter if you so desire.
4. In the same pan, brown the sausage. Doesn’t need to be cooked all the way through, just nice and browned. Slice it up, not too thick.
5. If you are making a lighter soup, pre-boil and drain the Acini di Pepe.

Soup Construction:
1. Put a big ol’ pot on the stove. Add 8 cups of broth (or a little bit more if you prefer, up to you). Set at high heat to get it rolling. Add the cayenne pepper, garlic, shredded up chicken, browned sausage, onions, tomatoes, and noodles (if you are cooking them IN the broth).
2. Let the soup cook on high, if the noodles need to be cooked. If not, let it simmer on medium low, until the chicken and sausage are thoroughly cooked.
3. Last step, add the spinach, and if needed, the cooked noodles.
4. Serve with some awesome bread and mozzarella! MMMMmmmm.

Enjoy, friends!