Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Val's Version

(Denver, CO)

I think I have a love-hate relationship with garlic. It smells so freakin' awesome when it's being sautéed. Even the house permeates its greatness. I love that. What I don't love is how it smells when it seeps out of my pours. It's not as bad as red onion - which by the way you'll never smell on me - but it's just gross. The aftereffect just takes away from its greatness. 

Speaking of greatness … get you some of this! All 5 of the pieces to our family puzzle chowed this pot down. And I think it was meant to serve 8. Oops. 

Simple, yet sophisticated. A quick and fairly inexpensive delicacy that is sure to entertain a small group of friends or can be canned and delivered to a family in need or new neighbor. 

Here's where I loved the garlic. Within 30 seconds my nose was in heaven.

The cast of characters can totally be substituted. Original recipe calls for sundried tomatoes or paste and I did neither. I grabbed the bruschetta mix that was on sale and can reuse that for flatbread pizzas, a casserole or pita dip. Money well spent. 

Once your garlic is sautéed, add the liquids and top with herbs. Have I mentioned that before? You always add your fats first and your herbs last.

Get that to a boil and then toss in your tortellini. Again, you can use any kind your heart desires. We stuck with a roasted garlic and cheese blend. Set it on low and simmered for about 10-15 minutes.

Topped with fresh parmesan romano and parsley. Accompanied by a few slices of garlic bread and whole veggies. Fabuloso!

Cali had some fun with hers ;)

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

The Kitchen Snap by Key Ingredient

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 whole large Cloves Of Garlic Minced

2 Tbl Olive Oil
2 10¾ oz Cans of Condensed Tomato Soup
¼ cup Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped or 2 Tbl Of Sun Dried Tomato Paste (I used a bruschetta mix)
2 cups Half-and-half
2 cups Chicken Stock
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 Tbl Italian Seasoning
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Pepper
1 whole 9 Oz Package Of Cheese Filled Tortellini
½ cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese, for garnish

Directions:

Saute garlic with the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat until golden brown. Be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get too brown or burnt. When the garlic is done, add tomato soup, tomatoes, half and half, chicken stock and spices. Bring to a simmer. Once simmering, drop tortellini into the soup. Cook according to the package directions. After tortellini are cooked, ladle soup into bowls and top with parmesan cheese. Serve with garlic bread and a choice of salad.

Jen's Version 

(Acworth, GA)

Val mentioned something above that I HAVE to touch on and since this is in fact, a food blog, it's the perfect forum. The red onion. I mean, why? There's just no need for this vegetable. You have sweet onions that suffice just fine. Red onions are overpowering, smelly, sneaky devils. They show up in your pico and ruin your tacos and your day! This is an anti-red onion blog post and I hope I haven't offended our loyal readers. But I do feel much better now. 

On to the amazing soup Val chose for this week. I love tortellini, I love soup and I loved this meal. Mega plus, my kids loved this meal. It was a great pick. If you're stuck indoors on a cold night, make this. I dare you. I made it for a soup swap that I did with my neighbors and they loved it (they said). They are really nice neighbors :)

First you'll brown your sausage and drain out the grease and set aside. I used ground italian turkey sausage. You could do anything here though - beef, chicken...

Oh would you look at that, a NORMAL onion. Dice up a medium sweet onion to get the base of the soup started.

You're gonna saute the onion and garlic with EVOO and add your soup ingredients, minus the cream. 

Let this bad boy simmer for a while and the ingredients blend.

You'll add your tortellini toward the end, because this pasta doesn't take long to get tender.

Then sautee your spinach.

Now add your cream, I added very little and your parmigiana reggiano, I added A LOT.

I added the sausage to half of my dish, because the other half I prepared for a soup swap for my vegetarian neighbor. The versatility of this dish is my favorite!

Serve with some crusty bread and a dash of hot sauce (sorry I put it on everything). 

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

The Kitchen Snap by Key Ingredient

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 whole large Cloves Of Garlic, minced

2 Tbl Olive Oil
1 medium onion
1 pound Italian Turkey Sausage, cooked
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
3 medium tomatoes, roasted and blended
1/4 cup Half-and-half
2 cups Vegtable stock
1 Tbl Italian Seasoning
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Pepper
Fresh Spinach, sauteed
1 whole 9 Oz Package Of Cheese Filled Tortellini
½ cup Shredded Parmigiana Reggiano Cheese, for garnish

Directions:

Cook italian turkey sausage, drain and set aside. In 350 degree oven, roast tomatoes, sliced in half for 30-40 minutes. Once charred, put in blender and blend to a soup consistency. Dice medium onion and saute with garlic and olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat until golden brown. Be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. When the garlic is done, add crushed tomatoes, tomatoes, vegetable stock and spices. Bring to a simmer. Once simmering, drop tortellini into the soup. Cook according to the package directions. After tortellini are cooked, add spinach, half and half, cheese and sausage and heat through. Ladle soup into bowls and top with more parmesan cheese. Serve with bread and a choice of salad.

Hot Spinach Salsa Queso Dip

Jen's Version

(Acworth, GA)

App night! I adore app night. I adore all apps. Dips, finger foods, cramming lots of different foods onto a little plate and conveniently allowing all to run into the cheese dip. I adore app night.

So there's a running joke that my family, particularly my sisters, mother and I, always make dips. We are dip people. And all dips must have a cheese. Usually cream cheese but Velveeta will do. And if both cheeses are combined, well heck, it might as well be my birthday! So I came across this amazing looking spinach dip and had to share. Not only are we in the throws of football season, but it's the holidays - so everyone should have a good dip on hand. Plus, it has spinach, so it's healthy. Duh.

So you start with cream cheese...

Then add Velveeta, and cube it up nicely so it melts evenly.

It gets tricky here - you have to open a can. Don't worry, it only takes a little effort. Open your can of Rotel and pour it over. I use hot Rotel because I'm not a wuss.

Oh see, I told you this was healthy. Add some spinach. Make sure you rinse your thawed spinach and squeeze out the excess water. 

You just have to check in every now and then and stir (and test). 

There it is! App night! My little plate with spinach cheese dip, teriyaki meatballs and bacon wrapped tator tots. And yes, everything is conveniently touching the cheese dip :)

Hot Spinach Salsa Queso Dip

(Big ups to Haystacks Champagne)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, plus

Total Time: 1 hour and 5 minutes (plus time to keep warm)

Ingredients:

1 lb Velveeta (cut into cubes)
8 ounces cream cheese
1 can Rotel
1 package frozen spinach (thawed, rinsed and drained)

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a crockpot and heat until cheese has melted (continuing to stir the mixture to combine ingredients). It should take somewhere around an hour to have the cheeses melt (but check as crockpots vary). This particular method is great if you can leave it on the low setting, then your dip will stay warm for a while. Serve with chips.

Val's Version

(Denver, CO)

Kinda funny how when you're told to do something as a child, you always want to find an excuse not to or try and argue your way out of it. Like … take a nap, clean your room, sit in time out, shower, read, etc. All of those examples are things that I'd love to be able to do on a daily basis now, as an adult. More so, nap and read. I'd kill for time to sit down with a good book and read till my eyes are heavy enough for me to exercise my right to nap for a good hour. Such a dreamer. But, I do get to read. On occasion. Good thing too since I'm in a book club. The ladies in my book club make me sane. They totes do. They are super awesome and we have such a great time gossiping over wine and apps once a month. This months book club meeting happened to fall on blog night. So, they got a bonus!

We read On the Island this month, so I thought it would be cool to go with the theme of the book. I pulled together a bunch of snackies and candies that they incorporated into the story and then cooked up some Caribbean style cocktail sausages and Moms infamous buttermilk chicken (I made mine into chicken nuggets). Spoiler: book takes place in the Caribbean and they killed and ate chickens. 

Jen kinda threw a monkey wrench in it by picking this dip, but it's one I've made before so I knew it would be a crowd pleaser. 

I was in a rush to get everything I needed before picking Lucas up from school, so happened to forget a main ingredient: spinach. Soooo - you'll notice my recipe is missing something. Something critical. But, it was still oh-so good.

Cube your cheeses and toss in your salsa. As always, I pick a salsa that's fresh with all kinds of bold flavors. 

Here's a snapshot of the snausages. Very zesty!

Since I have managed to surround myself with a bunch of gluten free peeps out here in Denver, most of my spread is in fact, gf. Kinda ridiculous how expensive gf crackers are though. I mean seriously, should be cheaper since they're missing a key ingredient. 

I chose to be wheaty and loaded up some sliced french bread with my queso dip and would be lying if I didn't admit to going back for seconds. And thirds. Trifecta, so to speak!

Hot Salsa Queso Dip

(Big ups to Haystacks & Champagne)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, plus

Total Time: 1 hour and 5 minutes (plus time to keep warm)

Ingredients:

1 lb Colby Jack Cheese (cut into cubes)
8 ounces cream cheese
1 jar salsa (I used 3/4 full jar of a 16 ounce jar)

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a crockpot and heat until cheese has melted (continuing to stir the mixture to combine ingredients). It should take somewhere around an hour to have the cheeses melt (but check as crockpots vary). This particular method is great if you can leave it on the low setting, then your dip will stay warm for a while. Serve with blue chips for a gluten free app or load up some french bread slices!