Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

-3 cups tomato soup *I used Trader Joes boxed tomato soup*

-1 small onion, diced small

-2 cups half & half or milk

-2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

-1 package cheese tortellini

-4 garlic cloves, minced

-2 tablespoons olive oil

-sprinkle of Italian seasoning *however much you like*

-few dashes of cayenne for kick, totally optional

-Salt & Pepper to Taste

-Parmesan cheese for topping

In a large pot over medium/high heat cook the onion until softened. Add in the minced garlic and cook for a couple of minutes, be sure not to let the garlic burn.

Add the tomato soup, half & half, stock, and the spices. Bring to a boil. Add Tortellini.

Reduce to simmering and cook about 12-15 minutes until Tortellini is cooked through.

Serve topped with Parmesan cheese!!

This soup was SO easy and delicious. I was missing a vegetable though, so next time I plan to add about 1/2 cup cooked peas to this to see how that works. 

Enjoy!

Lentil, Sausage and Spinach Soup

Lentil, Sausage and Spinach Soup

This was the first time making this recipe, and it was SO good I had to make a blog post about it even though I forgot to take pictures of each step. However, its basically just throwing it in the crockpot so its pretty easy!! 

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 carrots, diced 
• 2-3 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 T olive oil
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp fresh thyme (or dried if that's all you have)
• 1/2-1 tsp cayenne (this is definitely to taste, add a little and add more in the end if you want more kick)
• 4 links precooked chicken sausage, I used garlic herb chicken sausage from Trader Joes
• 1 can diced tomatoes, with liquid 
• 7 cups chicken stock
• 3/4 cup lentils 
• 1 package of Trader Joes 10 oz brown rice, found in the freezer section, cooked in the microwave (or make your own brown rice)
• 2-4 (per taste) cups fresh spinach
• 2.5 T Balsamic vinegar 
• Salt and Pepper to taste. Its a large batch so it will definitely take a little bit. You can add more at the end if need be. 

Dice your carrots, celery, and onion. Heat olive oil in a pan and saute until softened. Around 5 minutes. Add minced garlic, fresh thyme, salt and pepper. Cook an additional few minutes. Add to crockpot.

Slice your sausage, add to crockpot. 

Add the stock, canned tomatoes, lentils, a little more salt and pepper and cook in the crockpot on high for 3 hours. 

Add the rice and spinach, cook for 1 more hour. 

Stir in balsamic vinegar and cook an additional 15 minutes. 

Serve!

This soup is SO good, AND healthy! Perfect for a cold evening. Enjoy!