Tortellini Soup

This week has literally flown by.  I cannot believe tomorrow is Friday already.  This is the great thing about busy season - somehow the more hours I spend at the office, the quicker the days pass.  It's going to be April 15th in no time!

Unfortunately, the longer hours mean less time to spend here.  But I am trying!  This also means that I am about a week behind on my latest cooking!  This tortellini soup turned out really tasty.  Unfortunately the leftovers didn't really remain soup.  I'm not sure if we just ate most of the "soupy" part in the first sitting, or if some of the liquid evaporated somewhat - but the leftovers were more like some kind of pasta casserole.  They were still really good though with a lot of flavor.

Tortellini Soup

1 pound ground turkey
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon fennel
3 cups pasta sauce
1 1/2 cup water
2 1/2 cups fat-free half & half
20 ounces fresh cheese-stuffed tortellini
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Start by mixing the seasonings into the ground turkey in a small bowl.  Then transfer to a warm pan and brown.  Once browned, drain and transfer to a medium sized pot (I think I used a 3 quart pot and it worked fine).

Add the pasta sauce, water and half & half and bring to a boil.  After the pot begins to boil, add the tortellini and boil for 10-12 minutes. 

Finish by stirring in basil, salt and pepper.

To mix it up a little, try using different types of tortellini.  Another idea is to add various vegetables.  The fun, cheese-stuffed pasta may even get your kids to not notice the veggies!!

This did turn out to be a little high on the points scale - but not horrible.  It came out to 10 points+, definitely doable.