Tortellini Soup

This is our Sunday Soup.  I love to make this soup after church and the whole house smells fantastic.  The leftovers were not as good as the original because the tortellini get bigger and soggier.  So I divided the soup into 3 meals before I added the tortellini and froze 2/3 of the uncooked tortellini in a zip lock bag to be added to the frozen soups when reheating, just before eating.  So check out this recipe and maybe you can whip up a batch to warm you up on a cool fall Sunday afternoon.

Ingredients:

2 packages artichoke and mozzarella chicken sausage                  7.96
(I pick whichever flavor that is lowest in fat)
1 bunch green onions, chopped                                                    .58
2 cloves garlic, minced                                                                 .05
3 carrots, peeled and shredded                                                    .30
8 C chicken broth (I used homemade plus 1 boxed broth)           1.08
1 Tbsp hot sauce
3 C baby spinach leaves                                                             1.00
5 springs cilantro, chopped                                                           .15
9 oz package cheese tortellini                                                     3.48

Directions:

Slice the chicken sausage into 1/4 inch wide slices and brown in a large saucepan.  Remove and drain off any fat.  Saute green onion, garlic and carrot in 1 tsp olive oil for 3 min.  Add chicken broth and hot sauce and warm through.  Add chicken sausage, cilantro and spinach leaves. 

 Divide into thirds.  I put two containers in the freezer.  Bring the soup to a boil and add 1/3 package of tortellini.  Place the other 2/3 of the uncooked tortellini in a zip lock bag and freeze.   Cover the saucepan and boil soup for 7-9 min to cook tortellini.  This is how our soup looked right before we dug in!

This soup has so much flavor.  It does not need any added salt or pepper because of the hot sauce and the chicken sausage.  Yum!  Yum! Yum!  We also had a salad and it was a great meal.  Now we have two ready in the freezer for a week night treat.  When reheating you need to bring the soup to a boil, add 1/2 the remaining tortellini, cover and boil 7-9 min.  Then serve.  This meal cost me $4.87 each.  (not including the salad)  Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza