Cheese Tortellini Soup with Sun Dried Tomato, Artichokes & Chickpeas

I have been making a lot of soups lately. We have been hit seriously with frigid cold weather in the past couple weeks, and I crave soup every day. I made a lentil and sausage soup that I really wanted to post on the blog, but we finished it all before I could take a picture. I plan to make it again soon though, so no worries, you won't miss out on the recipe! I also have made some soups that were good - but not great, and not worth sharing on the blog. This cheese tortellini soup is totally blog worthy. I made it last night and was blown away by how flavorful it is. There are no onions, garlic, or salt in the recipe! While I was making it, Greg told me it would be nice if I had prosciutto or some other type of meat to add to it. When he was eating it, I asked if he missed the meat, and he said not at all. He did tell me though that he wished he had some bread! I agree, when we eat it tomorrow night I'll make sure we have some bread to go with it.

Not only did this soup taste incredible, it was so simple to make. It required minimal chopping (just the sun dried tomatoes) and barely any cook time. I made it from start to finish in less than 15 minutes. The soup is comforting and filling and so amazingly good. Enjoy!

Recipe for Cheese Tortellini Soup with Sun Dried Tomato, Artichokes & Chickpeas

INGREDIENTS:
7 cups of chicken or vegetable broth (use vegetable to make the soup vegetarian)
3/4 cup of thinly sliced sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained of the oil (reserve 2 tsp.)
1 9 - 10 ounce package of refrigerated cheese-filled tortellinis
2 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained

1 8.5 ounce can of chopped artichoke hearts in water, drained (do not use marinated artichokes)
3/4 cup of half and half or light cream
3/4 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes
Several grinds of freshly ground black pepper
Baby spinach leaves (for topping)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (for topping)

DIRECTIONS:
Put the broth into a dutch oven and set over high heat. Bring the broth to a boil and then add in the sun dried tomatoes and tortellini. Boil for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to medium low. Add in the chickpeas, artichokes, reserved sun dried tomato oil, half and half, crush red pepper flakes, and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Ladle soup into bowls. Top each with desired amount of baby spinach leaves and stir. Then top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serve with your favorite crusty bread, if desired.

Recipe makes about 8 servings

Recipe Adapted from: Foodie Crush