Tortellini Soup Recipe

A few weeks ago, Peter and I had lunch at a friend's house where she served a delicious tortellini soup. It was so good that the next week I had to get the recipe from her and I've made it several times since. I did make some adjustments based on personal preference and this is the version that I use. It's an awesome soup - hearty and perfect for cold, winter days and nights. I just made some tonight and plan to freeze a small portion as a test to see if it's a good freezer soup.

Ingredients (Parentheses contain more specifics, but you can use any type of the item):

12 oz. package of (Alfresco) Sweet Italian (Chicken) Sausage

64 oz. (Nature's Basket Organic) Chicken Broth

15 oz. can (Nature's Basket Organic) Diced Tomatoes

8 oz. Carrot Chips

1/2 Green Bell Pepper

8 oz. sliced Portobello Mushrooms

Italian Seasoning

4 c. Water

Directions:

1. Boil water to cook tortellini.

2. Remove sausage casing and cut into bite sized pieces.

3. Dice the 1/2 green pepper.

4. Combine sausage and pepper into pan with olive oil. Cook until sausage is browned. Remove from heat.

5. Cook tortellini as usual and rinse. Set aside.

6. In the same pot used to boil the tortellini, combine the broth, diced tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, and italian seasoning. Add sausage/pepper mixture and water. Bring to a boil.

7. Turn down heat and let simmer 20 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked and carrots are slightly soft.

**Tip: I put the amount of tortellini I want in a bowl and add the rest of the soup to that. If you add the tortellini, then it soaks up a lot of the broth and becomes soggy. I also store the tortellini separate from the rest of the soup.

Makes about 10-12 bowls