Each day during Lent, Ave Maria Press will be posting soup recipes and Lenten reflections from our Lenten prayer books here on the Ave Maria Press website. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more inspiration.
Lenten Reflection
From Everyone's Way of the Cross:
My Jesus, Lord,
I take my daily cross.
I welcome the monotony
that often marks my day,
discomforts of all kinds,
the summer’s heat, the winter’s cold,
my disappointments, tensions, setbacks, cares.
Remind me often that
in carrying my cross,
I carry yours with you.
And though I bear a sliver only
of your cross,
You carry all of mine, except a sliver,
in return.
Mom's and My Italian Wedding Soup
(Makes about 5 quarts) 
Ingredients
1 3–3 1/2 pound whole chicken broiler/fryer
3 stalks celery
3 medium carrots
2 small onions
1 head escarole
1 cup Acine de Pepe pasta
1 tsp./cube chicken bouillon
1/2 lb. meatloaf mix (ground pork, beef, and veal)
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1 large egg
salt and pepper
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tablespoon grated Romano cheese, plus extra to garnish
Prepare the Chicken and Broth
I follow the Betty Crocker Cookbook © 1969 recipe for “Chicken and Broth.” Betty tells us to put the chicken in a Dutch oven, cover with 4 1/2 cups of water, add cut up veggies (1 onion, 1 stalk of celery, 1 carrot—all unpeeled for added flavor), sprinkle with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, skim the foam, then cover and simmer for 45 minutes. I usually let it go a little longer.
Cool about 10 minutes, drain the veggies out of the broth, discard the veggies, and keep the broth. Remove chicken meat from the bone, then cut up the meat. Yield will be approximately 3 cups cut-up chicken and 3 cups broth.
I like to do this the day before I make the soup and put it in the fridge overnight. The next day I can then skim the fat from the top of the broth and proceed.
Prepare the Other Ingredients
Cook pasta to “al dente,” according to the package directions (usually boils for 10 minutes). Drain and set aside.
Cut 2 stalks of celery, 2 medium carrots, and 1 small onion into bite-size pieces.
Clean escarole and cook in a little water until wilted. Cool, squeeze out excess water, and cut up.
Begin preparing the meatballs by mixing together meatloaf mix, bread crumbs, egg, 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, dried parsley, garlic powder, and 1 tablespoon grated cheese.
Prepare Soup
Add enough water to the broth to measure 5 cups. Heat broth, celery, onion, carrots, and chicken bouillon to boiling. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until carrots are tender, about 15 minutes.
Stir in cut-up chicken. Set back to boiling, add raw meatballs (1/4 teaspoon per meatball), and simmer another 10 minutes.
Add in cut-up escarole and cooked pasta. If soup is too thick, add 2 or 3 cans of chicken broth to thin out. Serve immediately, sprinkled with a little grated Romano cheese.
Submitted by Maria Boyer.
