Recipe: Homemade italian chicken soup

My grandma is from Italy, and I spent a LOT of time growing up around her, watching her in the kitchen, learning to cook just like her!  Other than her sauce, this was probably her most requested dish.  Her chicken soup!

You can make it just as is, or pour it over egg noodles, but in my family we pour it over rice!  Brown rice is my favorite with this.

Here's the recipe:

• Clean chicken with cold water and salt.  I put in a whole chicken - you can put in chicken pieces if you'd rather, but you want the skin on, as it gives the soup more flavor.
• Fill a large pan with water, and bring it to a boil.
• Slice carrots (I put in 2 small bags of mini carrots), celery, and put in whole onion - not cut up. (I skip the onion & celery)
• Put chicken in boiling water with the following:
• Dash of crushed mint
• Tbsp of Italian Seasonings
• Tbsp of Parsley flakes
• 4 Tbsp salt
• 1 Teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 of a tiny can of tomato sauce
• Meatballs:
• 1 Lb Hamburg
• 2 Cups bread crumbs
• Handful of parmesan cheese
• Tsp of italian seasonings
• 2 Tbsp garlic powder
• 2 eggs
• salt, pepper
• Roll meatballs into tiny balls, put in boiling soup.  Add handful cheese on top of soup and stir.  Simmer for a few hours.
• Pour over rice and devour!

If using a pressure cooker, just toss all ingredients at the same time into the pressure cooker, and cook on pressure 60-70 for 70 minutes.

Enjoy!