Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Cheese Filled Tortellini Soup

     It's always fun when The Wife takes over in the kitchen. She has gained a ton of confidence in her cooking lately. Generally, she just follows recipes word for word. Lately, she has taken to tinkering with recipes. This soup is one of those instances. I had to work a bit late, so she offered to make some soup for dinner to go along with some Herbed Swirl Bread I had made a couple days before. She nailed it with this soup. The garlic pepper was a great addition and she ended up with a flavorful and satisfying soup. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm off the hook for cooking duties. As always, any notes or changes are in blue.

Cheese-Filled Tortellini Soup
via: Better Crocker: The 300 Calorie Cookbook
Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 1/4 cup chopped celery
  • 1/4 cup chopped carrot
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped (she used 1 heaping teaspoon of jarred garlic)
  • 6 cups water (she used 3 cups home-made chicken stock and 3 cups of water)
  • 2 extra-large vegetarian vegetable bouillon cubes (I contend that no such thing exists. The Wife used 2 regular sized chicken bouillon cubes)
  • 2-1/2 cups dried cheese-filled tortellini (The Wife was subbing like a champ. She used a 1 lb. bag of frozen cheese tortellini)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (not happening. 1 teaspoon of dried parsley was used)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (after an unfortunate incident following somebody's recipe that used WAY too much nutmeg, she erred on the side of caution and just omitted it)
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper (she just used black pepper to taste)
  • Added: 1/8 teaspoon garlic pepper
  • Added: 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
  • Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired (CHEESE IS NEVER OPTIONAL)
Directions
  1. In a 4-quart Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add celery, carrot, onion and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender. 
  2. Stir in water and bouillon cubes. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; stir in tortellini. Cover; simmer about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tortellini are tender. 
  3. Stir in whatever herbs and spices you're using. Sprinkle individual servings with cheese. 
Good times!

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