Soup warms the heart and body

“To feel safe and warm on a cold wet night, all you really need is soup.”-Laurie Colwin

I feel like I start all my posts by saying how much I love something.  Well, here is the truth.  I do.  Especially food.  Now, I love a good soup.  I love soup at restaurants, but well, not so much at home.  Normally they take forever, with lots of chopping and simmering and I just don't have time for that.  So when I find a good soup recipe that doesn't take too long, it's like I've found Heaven.  I am slowly building my soup recipe index.  And most of them so far are quick soups.  Because when you want soup, when do you ever want to slave over a stove for hours.  You don't.

Pinterest led me to this week's soup (we try and do soup once a week, but sometimes that doesn't work...I get tired of soup).  Well actually it lead me to the website where I found the soup.  But that's ok.  Pinterest can still get some of the credit.  The soup is from Tasty Kitchen and is Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup from Krysten Schwartz (http://mrsschwartzkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/11/tomato-tortellini-soup.html).  She says she found in on pinterest so I'm not sure where the original came from but really, everything gets changed a little along the way.

Ingredients:

• 2 whole Large Cloves Of Garlic Minced
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 cans 10 3/4 Oz Cans Of Condensed Tomato Soup
• ½ cups Sun Dried Tomatoes, Chopped Or Two Tablespoons Of Sun Dried Tomato Paste (I used the tomatoes but think the paste would make the soup thicker, though Hubbs liked having the actual tomatoes)
• 1½ cup Milk (we used skim and it was still creamy)
• 2 cups Half-and-half
• 2 cups Chicken Stock
• 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ½ teaspoons Pepper
• 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
• 1 whole 9 Oz Package Of Cheese Filled Tortellini (We also used a 16 oz package, mainly because I was lazy and didn't feel like saving any).
• ½ cups Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

• Saute garlic with the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat until golden brown.
• When the garlic is done, add tomato soup, tomatoes, milk, half-and-half, chicken stock and spices. Bring to a simmer.
• Once simmering, drop tortellini into the soup.  Cook according to the package.  Well, ours were frozen, which is fine, but the package said to cook in boiling water for 2 - 3 minutes.  That wasn't enough since the soup was simmering, so just watch it and maybe test one to see if it is done.
• After noodles are cooked, ladle soup into bowls and top with parmesan cheese and serve with crusty bread.

I wish I had remembered to take a picture.  Next time I make it I will.  But this recipe was super easy and great on a cold night.  We made it on Halloween (always good to have soup, stew, or chili on Halloween) and we had leftovers until the weekend.  Delicious!