Good Zoop!

Chicken Tortellini Soup

I don't always get it right in the kitchen.  In fact, more often than not when I play and make things up it doesn't end well for me.  On a good day, I can hit a right note.  Every once in a very great while I put the right ingredients together in a way that makes sense, and I cook them for the perfect amount of time.

It's that last part that usually gets me.  I'm a little lot ADD in the kitchen and I usually wander away in the middle of inspired thinking to start doing other things.  In any event, my "original recipes" usually leave my family wondering rather than leaving them in wonder.

But Chicken Tortellini Wonderfulness In A Pot happened on a good day.  A very, very good day.  A day so good it would be down right wrong of me not to share this with you.  Go put these things in a big pot so you can have a good day too.

Brooke's Good Zoop

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T oil

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 yellow squash, diced

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

Pinch pepper

28 ou. can petite diced tomatoes

One box chicken broth (reduced sodium)

Approximately 2 cups water

One can shoepeg corn

1 package refrigerated cheese tortellini

3-4 cups chopped fresh baby spinach leaves

1 lidful (about 1/4 cup) grated parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a stock pot.  Saute onion until soft and translucent.  Add garlic, red pepper, regular pepper, carrots and squash and cook briefly.  Add tomatoes, broth, water, and corn.  Cover and simmer until veggies reach desired tenderness.  (I don't like my carrots mushy.)  Add tortellini, fresh spinach, and parmesan cheese.  Stir well and cook about 5 minutes, until tortellini is hot.

This would also be yummy with sausage crumbles for a non-vegetarian version.  Brown sausage first, then use rendered fat to cook the veggies.  That would make it man food.  :-)

Enjoy!  Let me know if you try it and like it.