Tomato Tortellini Soup

I am throwing this one out there after a VERY annoying day in the kitchen.  Nothing seemed to go right for me while making this soup.  I actually went through 2 whole batches before I decided the third and final one was palatable.  Though I might be willing to incorporate tomatoes into my previously tomato free life, I think tomato soup is still a few months off for me.  I did eat my whole bowl though so that says something!

First I should say that you will either need to make or buy some tomato basil soup for this recipe.  If you make the soup the calories are reduced by about 20 per serving if you use the homemade tomato basil soup recipe I listed below.  It is a lot more steps, and you end up with a LOT of soup, but if you wanted to make the Tomato Basil Soup recipe and freeze it in 2 cup quantities, you would have it for when you wanted to make this recipe.

So here are the two recipes:

Tomato Basil Soup

• 2 c Chicken Broth
• 28 oz Diced Tomatoes*
• 1 Small Onion, diced
• 1 Celery Stalk, diced
• 1 Garlic Clove, minced
• 1 t Thyme
• 1/2 c Fresh Basil, chopped

1. Sauté onions, celery and garlic over medium heat until translucent.
2. Combine remaining ingredients and simmer for about 10 minutes. 
3. Either use a hand blender or transfer the soup to a blender and process till smooth.
4. Makes about 6 cups of Tomato Basil soup at about 60 calories per cup.

Tomato Tortellini Soup

• 2 c Tomato Basil Soup
• 3 c Chicken Broth
• 1 c Water
• 14 oz Diced Tomatoes*
• 8 oz Tomato Sauce*
• 4 oz Low Fat Cream Cheese
• 2 c Cheese Tortellini

1.  Combine all ingredients save the cream cheese and tortellini in a heavy stock pot over medium heat.  Bring to a simmer.  
2. Scoop out about 1 cup of the soup mixture.  Whisk together the 1 cup of soup mixture and the 4 oz of cream cheese until smooth.  Add the mixture back into the soup.
3. Simmer on low/medium heat until well combined.  
4. Add the tortellini and cook until tender - about 10 minutes.
5. ENJOY

*I used canned but feel free to use homemade or freshly diced.

The Tomato Tortellini soup makes about 13 cups.  I divided that into 8 servings of 1.5 cups (with a cup to spare).  The calorie count of this soup really depends on the tomato basil soup you decide to use.  If you use the homemade version then the calories come in at about 150 calories per serving.  If you decide to use canned soup you are looking at about 170 calorie per serving.  All in all not that bad.

I pared this soup tonight with some Peasant Bread, my new favorite bread recipe.  I actually ended up chunking the bread and throwing it right into the soup.  I know that this post hasn't been the most enthusiastic, but please try to remember that until 3 months ago I didn't even eat tomatoes so for me to actually finish my bowl of TOMATO SOUP is a huge deal.

Sorry for the horrible picture - as per usual I completely forgot about taking pictures until the plates were clean.