My spin on Italian Wedding soup in which the meatballs are made out of Italian sausage, the rice is replaced with pearl couscous, and the spinach is often substituted with kale.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Italian Sausage
• 2 Eggs
• 1 cup Bread Crumbs
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 4 cloves of peeled Garlic
• 4 cups Broth (Beef or Chicken, whichever you prefer)
• 4 cups Water
• Parmesan Cheese Rind
• 1/2 cup Pearl Couscous
• 1 lb of chopped Kale (or Spinach)
• Salt and Pepper
• grated Parmesan for serving

Directions:

1. Remove sausages from casings if they come cased.
2. Place a stew pot on the stove top to heat.
3. Add the eggs and the bread crumbs to the sausage.
4. Use your hands to mush them together and begin to form small meat balls of about 3/4′ in diameter.
5. Place the meatballs in the heated pot to brown.
6. Remove the meatballs from the pot.
7. Drain the grease from the pot, and place the pot back on the stove.
8. Add the olive oil to the bottom of the pot.
9. Use a garlic press to press the garlic, and drop the pressed garlic into the pot.  Make sure that the garlic does not burn.
10. Add the broth to the garlic, followed by the water.
11. Add the hunks of parmesan rind to the pot to help flavor the broth.
12. Bring the broth to a boil.
13. Turn the heat down to a simmer, and gently drop the meatballs back in.
14. Allow the soup to continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
15. Add the couscous and kale (spinach).
16. Season the soup with salt and pepper.
17. Cook the soup for another 5 minutes or until the couscous, kale, and meatballs are fully cooked.
18. Serve and garnish soup with grated parmesan.