I made Ina Garten's Italian wedding soup, and it's perfect for a rainy spring day

To make the meatballs for Garten's soup, you'll need:

• ¾ pound of ground chicken

• ½ pound of chicken sausage, casings removed

• 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten

• 3 tablespoons of milk

• 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

• 2 teaspoons of minced garlic (2 cloves)

• ⅔ cup of fresh white breadcrumbs

• ¼ cup of freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese

• ¼ cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

For the soup, you'll need:

• 10 cups of chicken stock, homemade recommended

• 3 carrots (¼-inch-diced)

• 2 celery stalks (¼-inch-diced)

• 1 cup of small pasta, such as tubettini or stars

• 1 cup of minced yellow onion

• ½ cup of dry white wine

• ¼ cup of minced fresh dill

• 2 tablespoons of good olive oil

• 12 ounces of baby spinach, washed and trimmed

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, then placed my ground chicken and sausage in a bowl with the breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, milk, and egg, plus the pecorino and Parmesan cheeses.

I should confess that I didn't use fresh breadcrumbs for this recipe. As Garten says, "Store-bought is fine!" But next time around, I'll try it with fresh breadcrumbs instead to see if it helps make the meatballs taste a bit lighter.

Per the recipe, I added one teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper. Then, I gently combined everything with a fork.

Garten recommends using a teaspoon to help make meatballs that measure around 1-inch to 1 ¼-inch and placing them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

"You should have about 40 meatballs," she writes in the recipe. "They don't have to be perfectly round."

I had made my meatballs a bit bigger and found them harder to eat while sipping on the soup, so I'd recommend sticking to Garten's preferred measurements.

First, I prepped all my veggies, dicing the carrots and celery and mincing the onion.

Garten says to sauté the onions, carrots, and celery together for about five to six minutes, stirring occasionally, until they've softened.

In the episode of "Barefoot Contessa" where she makes this recipe, Garten says homemade chicken stock "makes all the difference in the world" — and I completely agree.

I made Garten's homemade chicken stock for the first time this winter, and I'll honestly never go back to store-bought. I used it to make her ravioli en brodo and chicken pot pie soups, and they are among the best "Barefoot Contessa" recipes I've ever made (and I've made a lot).

The meatballs were lightly browned and cooked through, so I took my sheet pan out of the oven and set it aside.

Garten says to cook your pasta in the simmering broth for six to eight minutes, until the noodles are tender.

I couldn't find tubettini or stars pasta at the grocery store, so I tried casarecce instead. Since the noodles are a bit bigger, they didn't have the same effect in the soup and often slipped off the spoon. I'd stick to a smaller substitute so you can get more noodles in each sip.

I let them simmer in the soup for one minute, per Garten's instructions. I also added some salt and pepper during this step.

Garten knows she's asking you to add quite a bit of spinach.

"You're not going to believe how much it is, but it's going to cook down in a second," she says in the episode of "Barefoot Contessa."

I admit I didn't add the full amount of spinach — sorry, Ina! But I allowed the greens to cook for one minute in the soup until they had just begun to wilt.

As with her other soups I've tried this year, Garten's recipe shines thanks to her homemade chicken stock. It's comforting and rich without tasting too heavy, and the chicken meatballs are a delicious touch that makes the soup a tad hearty — especially with the extra Parmesan cheese Garten recommends you grate on top of the broth. The soup has a lovely depth of flavor, and the veggies added some great color and texture.

While I wouldn't rank Garten's Italian wedding soup above the chicken pot pie soup or ravioli en brodo, I think this dish is great when you're craving something soothing that still tastes light — perfect for a rainy spring night.