Spinach Tomato And Garlic Tortellini Soup

This delicious cheesy tortellini soup has so many fresh flavors, the combination of the cheese tortellini, fresh basil, tomatoes, garlic, and onions. This soup is bursting with flavor, this is perfect in the summer and the winter to make.

Every year I plant loads of Roma tomatoes, onions, tons of basil, I just love to go outside to my garden, find great recipes and make a great recipe like this one. So start to plan in your mind, even if you do not have a lot of property you can still have a garden with these items. I start looking now for all the new veggies that are coming up in seeds and plants. Cant wait till May, that is when I start mine.




Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 pounds Roma tomatoes (about 9 medium)
• Note: If it's winter and you're having a hard time finding good Roma tomatoes, you could replace with 2 cans regular or petite diced tomatoes, but during the summer when tomatoes are in their best prime flavor is the best time to use, but the canned tomato work deliciously  
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow onion finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced (more or less to taste)
• 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 (20 oz) package refrigerated three cheese tortellini
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 6 - 9 oz fresh spinach, chopped
• 3 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions:

• 1. Heat a large pot of water to a boil and then fill a medium mixing bowl with ice water. Once water in pot boils, carefully drop tomatoes into water and boil until skins burst, about 3 - 4 minutes (if a few of them are having trouble bursting, you can remove them from the water and cut an "X" in the bottom of the tomato then return to water for about another minute until skins slightly pull alway). 
• 2. Remove from boiling water and transfer to ice bath, cool slightly then peel, seed and dice into bite size pieces then set aside.
• 3. In a large stockpot, heat olive oil over medium heat, add onion and saute until tender, about 5  minutes. Add garlic and sauté 30 seconds longer. Pour in chicken broth and water, then increase the temperature  to moderately high heat and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, add tortellini, season with salt and pepper to taste and boil 7 minutes, or directions on package. 
• 4. Stir in sugar, tomatoes, spinach and basil and cook until heated through and spinach wilts. Serve warm topped with Parmesan cheese.

recipe and photo source: http://www.cookingclassy.com/2014/08/fresh-spinach-tomato-garlic-tortellini-soup/