Italian Wedding Soup (East Side Mario's Copycat)

For the tiny meatballs:

• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/2 lb ground beef extra lean
• 1/2 onion ensure it's a small onion since too much moisture from a large onion will make shaping the meatballs difficult, small, grated
• 2 cloves garlic grated
• 1/4 tsp lemon optional, zest
• 3 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese freshly grated
• 1 tablespoon parsley freshly chopped
• 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 egg
• salt around 1 1/2 teaspoons, to taste
• black pepper around 1 1/2 teaspoons, to taste

For the soup:

• 3/4 cup Acini di pepe pasta East Side Mario's uses this, but you can substitute any other small pasta if unavailable
• 5 ounces baby spinach you can also use frozen chopped spinach, but in that case, use much less, around 30 grams, or 140 grams, fresh
• 1/4 tsp lemon optional, zest
• 7 cups chicken broth if using store-bought, 2 cartons of around 900ml each
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• parsley fresh
• salt to taste