Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

When the weather gets cool and wet an overall blaw feeling comes over me. One of the things to give me some more 'get up and go' is to make (and eat) a nice warm soup. I had had a package of cheese tortellini sitting in my fridge just begging to be used so I went online on the hunt for a new recipe. I found this recipe on food.com and tweaked it to make it mine. You can change this soup up by using spicier diced tomatoes, adding diced zucchini, fresh spinach leaves or even beef tortellini. It's also a great meal to make on those crazy extracurricular-filled week nights. Pop some bread in your bread machine because nothing goes better with a warm soup than warm, homemade bread!

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olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 small onion, chopped finely

2 (19oz) can diced tomatoes

2 (10.75oz) cans Campbell's condensed tomato soup

2 soup cans filled with milk

10 fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1 tbsp dried basil)

1 (10oz) can chicken broth

3 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 cup half-and-half

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 (9oz/350g) package cheese tortellini

Coat a large soup pot with olive oil. Add onion and garlic; saute until soft.

Add canned diced tomatoes, dried basil (if using fresh basil add it later), tomato soup and the two cans of milk. Stir until blended. Add chicken broth and tomato paste (use a small wire whisk to mix in the tomato paste). Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add half and half and Parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Add tortellini and cook until tender (5-10 minutes). Serve with fresh bread and a salad.

Note: the leftovers are almost better than eating the soup the first day. It becomes a 'stoup' (soup/stew) which is great for dipping bread into.