Please sir, I want some more?
Cross Family Creamy Tortellini Soup
So, I’m not a gourmet chef, or any kind of chef for that matter, but we do a lot of cooking in this family. I mean, with all these kids we can really put away some food! Now, most of it is what you might imagine: large cauldrons of gray-ish gruel cooked over an open firepit in the backyard that is (of course) nutritionally formulated just “OK” enough for be called food and keep our kids alive for weeks on end. Or something like that. Occasionally, however, we come across a recipe like this one. One that is just so full of life and flavor that, well, we want to share it – and we have! This Creamy Tortellini Soup is one of our families’ favorites! We’ve made this soup for church functions, family get togethers and other types of potluck styled dinners, all with great success and many compliments! Follow the recipe below and you’ll end up with a ginormous pot of wonderfulness, or you can just cut it back to Normal family sized proportions. Also, feel free to modify it to your heart’s content – one of our favorite things about this meal is its versatility! In fact, comment below and let us know if you decide to try it and what changes (if any) you made! Now let’s get cookin’!
Ingredients:
4 – 19oz packages Tortellini
4lbs Italian sausage
4 – 28oz cans crushed tomato w/basil
24 cups chicken broth
2 – 8oz pkgs of cream cheese
1 lb fresh spinach leaves
Instructions:
- In a large stock pot brown up all of the Italian sausage, then add the chicken stock, crushed tomatoes and cream cheese. (Tip: We have found that the cream cheese blends into the soup better if you just put the whole “block” in and keep stirring.)
- Bring the mixture to a boil before adding the fresh spinach. Once the spinach is in reduce the heat and let simmer as the leaves cook down, stirring occasionally.
- Finally, as the spinach leaves are cooking add in the tortellini. It will only take about 3 minutes or so for them to reach al dente so keep an eye on them and don’t forget to stir occasionally!
Once the Tortellini are done you should let the soup sit and rest a little bit for all of the flavors to mix for maximum flavorfulness! Serve with toasted Italian bread with garlic butter! Yum! So good – enjoy!
