Soupolonious (Italian Tortellini Soup)

Since January was national soup month, we tried to make a delicious and healthy soup at least once a week. Three weeks ago I made the most delicious dill and chicken meatball stew, last week we made our chicken gnocchi soup, and a few nights ago the hubs made an evermore delicious Italian tortellini soup we’ve lovingly dubbed, “Soupolonious”. For reasons unknown, the hubby tends to randomly give things a Greek suffix to names. Our dog has become Puffolonious and now we have Soupolonious: our new favorite Italian Tortellini soup. Of course, he said you could also give things a Roman twist by adding an -itis or -articus. Anyway, let’s continuonious…

The best part of this soup is that it’s not a two or three hour endeavor. You can slowly dump everything in one by one as it warms. Let it boil and tah-dah! It’s warm, savory and incredibly filling. If you’re craving a hot soup that works perfect on a weeknight, this is it.

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What you need:

• Dutch oven or soup pot
• 1 lb of ground Italian sausage
• 1 large can of tomato sauce (we used Contadina non-gmo)
• a drizzle of olive oil
• 3 tbsp of dried oregano
• black pepper to taste
• one small chopped onion
• two carrots (we julienne ours)
• basil leaves to taste
• two big handfuls of fresh spinach
• 1 pack of your favorite tortellini (we used prosciutto and parmesan)
• 1/4 cup of cream
• your favorite hard cheese to grate (we used fresh parmesan)
  

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How to prepare Soupolonious:

1. Brown the Italian sausage on medium-high heat with the drizzle of olive oil making sure it’s cooked thoroughly (5 minutes).

2. Turn the heat down to medium. Toss in the onions and carrots and begin to let them soften (approximately 5 minutes).

3. Add the can of tomato sauce, then fill the can up halfway with fresh water and add too. Bring to a slow boil (another 5 minutes). Prepare a separate pan with boiling water to ready the tortellini. These will take about five minutes to cook so they’ll be ready to dump in at the last.

4. As it boils add oregano and black pepper. Tear up the basil leaves and toss them in. Let it boil, mostly covered, for 10 minutes.

5. With fresh spinach in hand, drop one handful into the soup and stir slowly, letting it wilt. Do the same with the next. If you put it all in at once, it tends to clump up (5 minutes).

6. After the spinach has wilted, pour in the cream and stir. Let it simmer just a bit more (5 minutes). You’re almost there!

7. Lastly, add the tortellini, garnish with more basil and freshly grated cheese.

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This soup is warm, healthy and filling. Even more so is what my husband and I share. These little meals have become end of the day rituals. They help us learn about each other and have become wordless ways of saying ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you’. When life gets hectic (as it always will), we can, at least, look forward to cooking for one another or cooking together. Marriage is very special in that each person is called to serve one another. It is so easily forgotten that marriage is not what you can get out of it but rather what you can give to it. The perfect example of marriage is Christ and His church. Christ loved the type of church He established so much that He gave His life for her (Ephesians 5:25). We are human and it is our nature to be selfish. It’s easy to get caught up in the “why didn’t they do this for me” mentality. Let the picture of Christ’s love for His Church be an encouragement for us. Let us always prefer our spouse before ourselves (Romans 12:10) Marriage is work. But work is rewarding! (Ecclesiastes 4:9)

Selah, my friends.

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