Chicken Tortellini Soup with Fresh Parsley

I’m the person who is always cold. Always, always, always. And as I'm typing this, it's about 8 degrees outside, and apparently it’s only supposed to get colder. Which is not allowed.

I took out the trash this afternoon and it was so cold that my hands were burning and tingling by the time I got back inside. The only way to get warm is to stay under a heating blanket, and even that really isn’t enough. I need a heating blanket made into a body suit.

I suppose I could always turn up the heat in my apartment. But in order for me to be comfortable I’d have to turn it to about 78, and I do not have that kind of money.

So in the meantime, I’ll just pretend I’m in Cancun and eat soup. Lots of soup.

I grew up in a household where my mom always made homemade soup. It kills me that so many people buy canned soup when it’s just as cheap and easy to make it on at home. Not to mention, it’s healthier and it tastes infinitely better.

This chicken tortellini soup is my favorite. It’s bursting with flavor, which is unexpected when you first try it. The secret is to submerge a bundle of fresh parsley into the broth while it’s cooking. And you do that just long enough for the broth to soak up the parsley’s flavor.

So bundle up and pour yourself a generous helping of this delicious soup!

Chicken Tortellini Soup
Yield: 8 cups

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

·      1 and 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil

·      1 and 1/2 cups chopped carrots (you need about 5 medium carrots)

·      1 cup chopped celery (you need about 3 stalks)

·      1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 small)

·      2 Tablespoons minced garlic

·      4 (14.5 oz) cans low sodium-chicken broth

·      1 and 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

·      Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

·      12 ounces refrigerated three cheese tortellini

·      Bundle of 1/2 cup parsley (stems and all tied together with twine)

·      3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken*

Directions

1.     Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat; add carrots, celery and onion and sauté until soft or about 4 minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer.

2.     Pour in chicken broth and Italian seasoning and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover the pot and boil 5 minutes.

3.     Add tortellini and submerge bundle of parsley into broth. Cover and boil 8 more minutes.

4.     Remove parsley and stir in chicken. Cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

5.     Serve warm and topped with a few parsley leaves.

*If you don't want to buy a rotisserie chicken, you can cook 3 or 4 chicken breasts, shred them, and add them to the soup the same way you’d add the rotisserie chicken.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Classy.