Recipe Review: Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup (Tasty Kitchen)

Fall is teasing to hit us here soon, and it. is. awesome.

This is my first experience living in a state with seasons. In Florida, it'll be "fall" for two weeks in January and then it's summer again. Here, we might actually get a little season of that beautiful breezy mountain air and colorful leaves and sweater-but-not-jacket temperatures. Not to mention it's football season, AKA the most wonderful time of the year! And the best part of fall, food-wise, is the reemergence of hot soups. Potato-bacon-cheddar, tomato with a grilled cheese, wild rice & mushroom, curried butternut squash - they're all delicious and inspire cozy images of scarves and cool night air and impending holidays. So I clicked around on Pinterest for a while, looking for inspiration, and ran across this picture:

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup @ Tasty Kitchen

Creamy? Tomatoes? Parmesan? I had to try it.

The original recipe can be found here:
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/soups/creamy-tomato-tortellini-soup/

This took less than 20 minutes to make, including the 8 minutes of simmer time. It is so easy. It doesn't really go with my make-everything-from-scratch effort because the base is canned tomato soup, but who can argue with < 20 minutes chopping block to table? I'm sure it could be made from scratch, but I just went with the canned soup and truly, I could barely tell a difference. Plus, I hardly stick to that mantra anyway - working, schooling women don't usually have interminable time to spend in the kitchen, so this is perfect for those on-the-go.

Ingredients:
2 whole cloves large garlic, chopped (I actually used more like 6...)
2 tbsp olive oil (I used butter)
2 10 3/4 oz cans of condensed tomato soup
2 tbsp of tomato paste (you can also use sundried tomatoes)
1.5 c Milk
2 c 1/2 & 1/2
2 c stock (I used chicken broth, since I had it on hand)
1 tsp onion powder
2 tbsp Italian seasonings
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 package (9 oz) tortellini (I used the cheese and roasted garlic flavor from Bertolli)
1/2 c Parmesan cheese

Preparation:
- Chop the garlic and toss it in a large pot or Dutch oven. Brown the garlic in the oil or butter until brown.
- Add all ingredients into the pot except for the tortellini and Parmesan. Bring to a simmer. Needless to say, I didn't actually follow the seasoning instructions and instead added garlic powder, extra onion powder, salt, and some turns of my Italian Seasoning grinder to taste.
- Once the pot's contents are all melded together and simmering, add the tortellini and just follow the package directions. Bertolli's products take 8-10 minutes, and after 8 mine was ready to go.
- Spoon into a bowl, sprinkle with shredded Parmesan, and voila! Hot meal ready in no time.

And y'all, this is quality soup. It smells of autumn, TBird described it as "earthy", and it's filling and delicious. This is what fall is about (or so I think, having barely ever experienced one myself). Next time I make this, I will follow the suggestion on the original blog of having crusty bread to sop it all up (bread bowl-making in a future post?) and I would maybe stir in some carmelized onions. I'll also experiment with switching around the tortellini filling - I think spinach and cheese would be fantastic. But really, it doesn't need anything else to be satisfactory - it's good just like it is.

Also, if you check out the rest of the original website, there are all kinds of great soups to try, so look for them in upcoming reviews. Thank you Pinterest & Tasty Kitchen, I am fall-inspired!