Monday, September 22, 2008

it's all about the soup

One of the things I like best about fall is the coming of soup to the dinner table.
In summer, soup is a no go.
Laboring over a bubbling pot is death in my non-air conditioned kitchen.
And I don't go for cold soup. I think chilled soup is an oxymoron.
For some reason, fall and soup seem to go hand in hand.
The weather gets crisp, the new fall television line up begins
and there area bevy of beautiful soups to be eaten for dinner.
Whether it's a creamy potato leek soup or chicken noodle,
just give me a big ole' crusty loaf of bread and a bowl of soup
and I am one happy girl.
But I'm also a 5-ingredient-soup-in-30-minutes-kind-of-girl .
I don't have hours to whip up a hearty stew with a gagillion components.
So I thought I'd share one of my new favortites with you.
Chicken Tortellini Soup. We had it tonight.
Will sang my praises.
"Mom," he said, "I love your tortellini."
Then he began chanting, "Torto-lini! Torto-lini!"
Which was so kind, because so often my offerings of food are met with comments like,
"I don't care for it." Before they have even tasted it, the children say this.
So the chanting was pleasurable.
At least it was until Addison tried to copy his brother
and his underdeveloped speech uttered forth the word, "Torto-weenie! Torto-weenie!".
Which caused his brothers (and father) to go off into gales of laughter
and a 5 minute all brother chant of "Torto-weenie!" ensued
It just never really changes around here.
The potty humor is always appreciated...even at dinner.
But getting back on track...here is the recipe.
In case you love soup as much as I do.

Chicken Tortellini Soup
1 small white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T olive oil
3 boxes fat free chicken broth
1 rotisserie chicken
2 packages frozen or refrigerated cheese tortellini
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste.

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until clear.
Add chicken broth. Add seasonings. Rough chop chicken breasts and add to broth.
(you can use the dark meat too if you like but I'm a white meat girl)
Bring to a boil. Add tortellini. Cook as directed on package.
Julienne spinach (cut in little strips) and add the last 3 minutes of
tortellini cooking time.

Voila!
Lovely fall soup.
Soon your own children will be shouting praises of your culinary greatness.
Your prowess with a pot. Your mad soup skillz.
You, too, may have a potty talk soup chant at your dinner table.

Any soup recipes I should know about out there?
Leave your recipe or a link to your recipe in the comments.
For the fall, I'm thinking of changing the blog name to
tired SOUP-er girl. Or not.
Sorry....I could resist such an obvious pun.


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6 comments:

Beth K said...

I'm always looking for new fall/winter soups to add to my recipe box and I can't wait to try this one! Here is the link to our favorite (and also easy-to-make) soup... http://mycontroltower.blogspot.com/2008/08/taste-of-fall.html

Kim said...

We had soup tonight. Although ours was a dry soup mix from the store. Because we spent the day cleaning and painting at the house we're renting. In hopes it will be ready to move into once the hubby gets our container through customs and trucked here next week.
Of course I prefer the homemade variety of soup and yours sounds lovely. I will have to try it! Just found out our neighbor is a chef who, on the side, makes homemade pastas to sell. Yeah!

Jen said...

Is it really 3 boxes of broth? I'll have to add this to the menu for next week.

Funny thing is, if you ask my 5 year old what the worst food in the world is, he'll say tortilini. It's because I have a recipe for a cold tortilini salad with a vinegrette dressing that is amazing, only Sam hates it, I guess because of the dressing. I've been telling him he'd like it fixed differently. We'll see... ;)

susanna said...

Jen, it is 3 boxes, the tortellini tends to soak up quite a bit of the broth - especially if you have soup left over...it seems to keep absorbing. :) I hope Sam has a change of heart in the tortellini department. :) Sue

Unknown said...

Here is a super easy/super good soup everyone loves..I often make it when I bring a meal to a friend or new mommy!
ITALIAN SAUSAGE SOUP
*1pkg bulk(not in casings)italian sausage.(or taken out of casings)
*1T italian seasoning or to taste
*1 small carrot thinly sliced
*sm.can of chopped tomatoes
*1 C small shell pasta
*8 C beef broth (more or less depending on taste.)
** Brown sausage. drain. toss in rest of ingredients and cook til pasta is done! The best part is serving with grated parmesan and good sourdough bread!!

Kelly @ Love Well said...

I refuse to discuss soup and/or the type of weather which might necessitate it.

However, if I were to discuss it, I would certainly tell you to make Lasagna Soup, which is my new personal favorite. And living in Minnesota automatically qualifies one to be a Soup Expert.