Soup Weather

It's a cold and rainy November day here. I'm sipping coffee and listening to some Christmas tunes on Pandora, (don't judge).  The one good thing about this kind of weather is that it gives us a chance to  make some real live comfort food and for a lot of us that means soup!  

This time of year I start longing for some new recipes, the old favorites are good, but new favorites are a must, and this soup is a new favorite.   

I hit up my favorite source for new recipes, Pinterest of course, and found this Tortellini and Sausage soup.  Really quick and easy and soooo good.  I made a few adjustments based on what I had on hand.  The original recipe calls for Italian sausage,  I had regular old mild sausage and it was delicious.  I cut the salt in half , used low sodium and home made unsalted chicken broth and in my opinion it was still a little too salty. I also used pesto in place of the chopped basil because pesto is chopped basil right? I served it with home made bread and butter and it was a meal fit for a king.  It's ready in about 45 minutes. Here is the recipe with my adjustments and changes.  I hope you enjoy this, it's going to be on the menu a lot around here :)

Tortellini, Spinach and Sausage Soup

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 lb mild pork sausage (or Italian sausage)
1/2 cup diced onion
1 Tbsp minced fresh garlic
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (or crushed tomatoes)
32 oz. Chicken broth
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped basil (I used pesto instead and it was delicious!)
1 teaspoon pepper
1 package tortellini
1 cup chopped fresh spinach

1. Heat a large, heavy bottomed pan over med-high heat. Heat olive oil  and add diced onion.  Saute until onions are soft.
2. Crumble sausage and garlic with the onion. Cook until sausage is no longer pink.
3. Stir in tomatoes, chicken broth, basil and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Let soup simmer for 20-30 minutes.
4. Add tortellini and spinach and simmer for about 10 minutes, until pasta is tender. Salt to taste.
5. Serve with shredded Parmesan.

This made enough for the two of us to have leftovers for Lunch and dinner the next night.  I found that the pasta absorbed a lot of the broth overnight so we ended up adding another can of chicken broth to the leftovers. It was just the right amount to bring it back to soupiness.  

What is your favorite soup? Have you tried any new ones lately?