Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Fall is upon us and the last few days have been chilly here in the Bay Area. When it’s cold and gloomy outside, grilling isn’t really an option. But you know what is? Soup! How easy is it to throw a few ingredients into a pot and more importantly, how cozy is it to eat that soup next to a fire? All that to say, last night was a pretty perfect night.

I found the original recipe on Pinterest, but we had to adapt it because quite honestly, it sounded pretty boring. The original recipe ends up just being a flavored broth and tortellini, Jason and I knew we needed to add some fresh ingredients for added flavor and texture. We bought everything from Trader Joes.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion (diced)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 package of Cremini mushrooms (sliced) (really, any mushrooms will do)
• 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes (halved)
• 2 cups half and half
• 20oz tomato soup (we used the tomato and roasted pepper soup from TJs)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 package cheese tortellini
• 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
• 1 tsp oil
• salt and pepper to taste

What to do!

We started by heating 1tsp rosemary infused olive oil in a pan and sautéed the onions, garlic and mushrooms with salt and pepper until they were golden (on high heat for about 6-8min). We transferred those to a big pot and added the tomato soup, half and half, chicken broth, tomatoes and italian seasoning, bringing it to a simmer. Once the soup was simmering we lowered the temp to medium heat and dumped the package of tortellini in the soup, letting it cook until the tortellini was fully cooked (9-12minutes). Add salt and pepper to taste after dishing yourself up a bowl. This recipe will yield enough  for 6-8 people.

We pan fried kielbasa for an appetizer (which would also be a fantastic addition to the soup, we later found out!).

Overall, this was a fantastic cold weather meal.